


What Little There Is Between Us

by journaliry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Albino Dave Strider, Businessmen, Dating, Dirk Strider and Dave's Bro Are the Same Person, Falling In Love, Humanstuck, Love Triangles, M/M, Multi, Poly, Polyamory Negotiations, Rival Relationship, Rivals to Lovers, Workplace Relationship, YouTuber Dave Strider, cherrypepsicola - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 00:55:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 53,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21066089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journaliry/pseuds/journaliry
Summary: After meeting up for an arrange dinner, a famous internet celebrity, Dave Strider, and the CEO of an ad agency, Karsen "Karkat" Vantas, the two of them discover they have little in common. Only thing they enjoy doing together is poking fun at each other. After their meal, Dave runs into a young man and gave him his number, only to find that some other man just asked John Egbert on a date.





	1. wanting

You were strolling up to the place. Stepping into the five-star restaurant in your red nikes and a white button up shirt. You tugged at the sleeves of your bright red jacket to straighten them out. You might be a bit under dressed for a place like this, but that's just your style.

You adjusted your shades as you looked around the place. You were trailing right behind a hostess who’s guiding you into a private room. At least you’ll be able to eat in private. You don't want anyone recognizing you. Always awkward when people ask you for an autograph during a date. You just want a nice dinner with some fruity apple cocktail and a hot basket of never-ending breadsticks. 

As you walk with the hostess over to the back of the place, you get the urge to check your phone before you get to your table. 

Of-fucking-course you just got a few messages from your bro. 

You read the last few notifications at the top of your screen.

* * *

Dave.

Did you get to the place yet? 

Just got bitched at that you're late.

* * *

_ ‘Just because I'm not there on the dot?' _

The thought passes through your mind as you shut off your phone.

You’re just going to let that stew for a while. 

It was your older bro's idea that you come here in the first place but Dirk doesn't always need to be butting into your business. You figure that ignoring Dirk is the fastest way to piss him off and the most effective way to cut into him. Bro's got to learn not to force himself into your life out of the blue anymore. He's got to learn this fuckin lesson. 

You’ve been on your own for more than a while now and he still treats you like a child.

Randomly, Dirk called you up a few days ago and sprung this shit on you by asking,

_ "Think you can make time for dinner Friday afternoon?" Dirk just asked as soon as you picked up the phone. _

_ You held the phone in-between your shoulder and your head while you were scrolling through something you were working on your laptop. You answered to your bro, "if you're in town, I can find the time." _

_ Bro sighed into the phone as he spoke, "I'm not and even if I was, I don't have the time to eat out, or even chat about this." _

_ "Then I'm not-" you wanted to tell him you weren't interested, that you didn't have time either but you were cut off by Dirk. _

_ "-if you can find the time for me, you can find the time for this meeting I set up for you with a CEO of-" _

_ At this point of the conversation you were already rolling your eyes, only half-listening as you continued to skim through the script for your web show that you’re going to be recording in the next hour. One of your employees was trying to get your attention as bro kept on blathering._

_ "I keep telling him that his agency needs to expand and start fucking around with emerging media, I use his services all the time but he always makes me go out of my way to find an ad agency that can do everything that his company can't.” _

_ You waved off your makeup artist and then leaned back in your desk chair to listen to your bro drone on. _

_ “-and the only reason they can't is because he won't invest at all with using social media. And Vantas is surprised he's losing business-" _

_ The only shit you were focused on in the - one-sided - conversation was that this Vantas dude was the CEO of some major, multi-billion dollar ad agency. Dirk thought that the two of you could strike a deal over dinner, "that and you need to get out more." _

_ Yep. The best part about this whole ordeal is that Dirk thinks that you are still his lazy-ass teen brother that sleeps all day and needs help getting into contact with anyone from the world outside your room. Regardless of what Dirk thought of you, you knew it was better just to go along with it. If you rejected Dirk's help with networking, Dirk would throw another one of his bitch-fits. At least this isn't one of his shit setups to get you to settle with one of his contacts, this was an actual business deal. _

_ "Bro." You pinched your brows together as you reluctantly agreed, "I can set aside an hour if you can promise me this place has-" _

_ "It has bread sticks." Dirk assured you. _

_ "Then I'll consider it a break." You already knew that you didn't need to take the shit seriously if the guy didn't even like **the idea** of anything involving digital media. You're sure that you just need to show up and eat. "_ _That is... if the dude can even make it." _

_ Your bro says in a dull, gray tone of voice, "Karsen said the same thing." _

You hummed as you thought, _ 'so this CEO guy already agreed to meet up before Dirk even called me?' _

Maybe the guy was serious about this meeting? You could at least hear this dude's collab pitch then.

Your bro had a shit ton of connections and collaborators, and everyone that Dirk decides to collaborate with just shuts up and listens to the man. Shit's easier that way, you know because the same thing goes for you. Dirk's been on your ass about everything in your life since your dad passed. 

Dirk might be the more successful of the _ two Strider brothers _, but you have your own network of interlacing connections. Still, Dirk was the one who inherited your late dad's multi-billion dollar companies. And honestly you were fine with Dirk getting just about everything, long as you got your dad's shit collectibles, you’re all set. 

Eventually, you used your inheritance to set up something to stream content and make shit jokes online. Your shit caught on fast, you’re glad it did. Your web series is what finally got you out of the house and into the real world. 

Over time, you became a huge influencer online. You have your own web-show, a series of different blogs and several employees for each individual project you built yourself from the ground up. You’ve got a million offers for deals that you are still cycling through. In all honesty, you can't possibly see what Vantas' ad company can offer you that isn't some bulky ass year long contract to promote shit you’ve never heard of and that you don't give a shit about. If Vantas made a deal with you he’d probably add in a demand that you stop fucking cursing in your videos. _ 'Fuck that noise.' _You don't make content for kids.

You sigh. At this point you’re just here for the free food... and who knows, this might even be entertaining. 

The hostess opened up a large black door for you and extended her arm, gesturing for you to enter. You nod in the place of thanking her and then you head inside.

. . .

You sighed through your nose, you were mindlessly poking at your empty basket of complementary breadsticks. You rolled your eyes at hearing the dude across from you drone on-and-on about his job, "-OUR COMMERCIALS PUSH MESSAGES OUT SUCCESSFULLY, I DON'T KNOW WHY THE STOCK HOLDERS KEEP FUCKING PUSHING ME ABOUT BUILDING-" Vantas began using air quotations,"- 'A NETWORK OF INFLUENCERS.' EVERY OTHER DAY SOME PIECE OF SHIT KID WITH A CAMERA GETS SHOVED IN MY FACE AND EVERYONE EXPECTS ME TO GIVE A SHIT. FROM WHAT I GATHER, THIS WHOLE SOCIAL MEDIA THING IS JUST ONE BIG FUCKED UP EXPERIMENT, AND YOU KNOW THAT SHIT ONLY APPEALS TO KIDS-"

You smirked at his words. His words sound so forced and petty. Like he won't admit he's the one in the wrong. 

The dude shouted nearly everything he says, sounds like his voice was fucked up from some chain smoking habit, plus the guy reeks of nicotine. 

You groaned, watching the guy down his drink and the last breadstick as he carried on screaming.

Karsen Vantas had black hair and tan skin, he'd be handsome if he wasn't so fucking short and if he didn't have rings under his eyes. Plus the guy keeps checking his phone for messages under the table. You, yourself, haven’t thought **once **about doing the same and your career is over the phone. This asshole is just blathering on-and-on about himself and for some reason romcoms? 

"Wait." You stopped him from talking, "how did we get on this topic again?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE PUTTING IN NO FUCKING EFFORT INTO THIS SHIT DATE."

"Shit... date?" You ask… and suddenly it hits you. 

"oh no. oh god no." You muttered to yourself as you bowed your head down and ran your fingers through your white hair. You whisper to yourself, "no. not this shit again."

This **is** another one of your bro's bullshit attempts to force you to settle down with a billionaire.

You can just hear your bro's voice in your head, _ "you need to settle down, you're thirty now. Your good looks aren't going to last forever and I don't see you dating. If you don't grab a man soon I'm going to shove them down your fucking throat, make you down assholes with moneybags like they're one of your fucking juice boxes." _

You groan and scoff at the same time, rolling back your head back in your chair like you’re snoring. 

"WELL. LOOKS LIKE THIS WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME." Vantas put down his drink and was about to stand up. He pauses once you start talking,

"I beg to differ, it was worth coming. Now I know that any time my bro says he's going to 'help me out' it means fuck me over." You sighed as you slouched down in your chair. Ha. Even like this you are still taller than the man across from you. 

"I'M SURE YOU MUST BE DEVASTATED." Vantas jokes. "YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING A CONTRACT WITH ME? GET REAL, I DON'T NEED TO DEAL WITH ANYMORE BULLSHIT FROM ANYMORE DUMBFUCK INFLUENCERS."

"Excuse me," You laugh. "I came here to humor you, hear your deal. I heard you had a good one, but we both know that would have been bullshit. You probably couldn't afford to sign me on. What was it? Your company is failing?"

"IT IS NOT. WE ARE JUST IN A LULL- AND FUCK OFF WITH THAT SELF-RIGHTEOUS SHIT. I GET ENOUGH OF THAT SHIT FROM OUR BOARD MEMBERS."

"God!" You groan out another deep sigh, "I am so sick of hearing about your job."

"SORRY, BUT THAT'S MY FUCKING LIFE. IF YOU SAID ONE FUCKING WORD TO ME THEN MAYBE WE COULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE-"

"I couldn't get a word in." You are still slouching like you don’t give a damn, but you found the energy to toss up one of your hands in frustration.

"THEN FORCE A WORD IN. LIKE YOU JUST FUCKING DID, DUMB ASS." Karsen said the words like he was calling you out. "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE ON-"

"Showering apparently." You cross your arms. 

"I'M STRESSED, WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE FOR DRESSING LIKE A KID THAT JUST WALKED OUT OF TILLY'S?"

"I am a kid that just walked out of Tilly's." You joke.

"I DON'T HAVE FUCKING TIME TO WASTE ON THIS SHIT. I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THEN SPEND TIME ON A BLIND DATE WITH A SHELTERED MAN CHILD."

"Man child? Dude, do you see yourself?" You raise your brows and smile, still crossing your arms, "you are like what? four feet tall?"

"MOTHER FUCKER." Vantas just tried to mutter under his breath but his throat was to scratched up to not be obnoxiously loud. "IS THIS WHAT YOU DO ALL DAY? JUST POKE FUN AT PEOPLE WITH HALF-ASSED INSULTS"

"No, I just finished spending three hours making calls after holding a meeting with _my_ employees." You remind your shit date that you're a business man too. 

"DID YOU ALL JUST PASS AROUND A BLUNT AND WATCH VINE COMPILATIONS?" Karsen grunted like an dipshit idiot. 

"First of all, tiktok’s where the shit is at now.” You continue after you correct him- “second of all-"

"GOD I CANNOT STOMACH YOU, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL TALKING? TO ANYONE? DO YOU HEAR THE WORDS COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH? WHO GIVES A **SHIT** ABOUT WHATEVER FUCKING APP IDIOTS ARE FLOCKING TO NOW!?! NO ONE WORTH ANYTHING GIVES A SHIT."

"What?!" You lift up both of your arms and point a finger at him. "Just because you don't know shit about shit doesn't mean that it isn't valuable. You know how many fucking companies try to push their products on me because I-"

"IF YOU SAY 'YOU STAY _CURRENT_ WITH _TRENDS'_ OR SOME SHIT LIKE THAT- I WILL FUCKING FLIP THIS TABLE."

"Did you do a line before you got here? Why are you so fuckin’ crazy?" You coughed out a laugh.

_ ‘Look at this fucker go.’_

Well at least you're in a private room, no one is around to hear Vantas' bitch fit.

"I AM ANNOYED, I HEARD THAT YOU WERE SOME CLEVER MULTI-MANAGER WITH A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY-"

"I am." You defend yourself. God, you almost feel like screaming

"LET ME FINISH." Vantas speaks up over you. "I JUST END UP ON A DATE WITH SOMEONE I KNOW IS LOADED WITH HIS _DADDY'S_ MONEY-"

You scoffed, looking to the side and up at the ceiling. "My money."

You're arms are still crossed as you lean back in your chair, tilting it to get a better view of the ceiling. 

You finish correcting him, "I make my own... money." 

"USING WHAT?" Karsen asked. "THE CONNECTIONS YOUR BROTHER GAVE YOU?"

"Okay." You placed the chair you were leaning in back down to the ground and looked at the man sitting across from you. "I came here as a favor to you and your obviously failing company." You lifted up your hand. "I have my own career, blogging-and** I know** you already don't see that as a real job. But I make bank-"

"YOU MAKE MONEY DOING BASICALLY NOTHING."

"I bet you and I do the exact same things, all day everyday. You take phone calls all day, right? Go to meetings? Constantly check your email- like you've been doing the _entire time_ you've been sitting across from me." You point out. "You and I both work our asses off. You could at least pay me an ounce of respect by actually listening to me- and you're checking your emails again."

"GO ON. I'M HALF-LISTENING." Karsen slightly looked up from his phone to answer you.

"You know what." You sit up and gesture blowing this whole thing off with your hands. "This is pointless."

"FIRST THING YOU SAID THAT WE BOTH AGREE WITH ALL NIGHT." Karsen stood up from his seat. "I DON'T KNOW WHY I LET THE PRESIDENT TALK ME INTO THIS SHIT. A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU -OR A PARTNERSHIP WITH YOU- IS WORTH JACK SHIT TO ME."

"I didn't do anything to you all night. And you're acting like **this**." You shook your head in disbelief. "Like I did you dirty."

"BECAUSE YOU JUST KEEP SMIRKING AT ME LIKE YOU KNOW BETTER." Karsen pointed right at the '_smug motherfucker'across from him.' _He pointed right at you.

"I do know better." You smirked like_ the smug motherfucker_ you are. "At least about the shit your spewing."

"SEE!" Karsen raised his voice even higher from his permanently fucked up and high volume. "THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW. THIS. YOU KNOW WHAT. FORGET IT. BUT DO THIS ONE THING FOR ME. TELL YOUR BROTHER THAT HE CAN FORGET ANYMORE PARTNERSHIPS WITH MY COMPANY. THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW. HE KEEPS TELLING ME HOW TO RUN MY BUSINESS, TELL HIM HE CAN SUCK MY FAT ONE."

"I think he wanted _**me** _to do that."

"JESUS CHRIST. WHERE DO YOU GET OFF?"

"What?!" You toss up your hands for the umpteen time tonight. "Can you not take a joke!?"

"IT'S THAT FUCKING MONOTONE COCKY VOICE OF YOURS, IT'S JUST LIKE YOUR FUCKER BROTHER."

"Well, I'll be sure to tell him you said that." 

"WELL NOW I'M TELLING YOU THAT I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO TELL HIM TO SUCK MY COCK."

"You could have found an easier way to say that."

"NOT THAT IT MATTERS, LISTEN." Karsen looked at his phone. "I HAVE TO GET BACK TO WORK, OUR LITTLE FIGHT RAN OVER MY ALLOTTED SCHEDULED TIME."

You silently hope that this douche is just saying these words sarcastically... but you know that he isn't.

"I'M JUST GOING TO LEAVE. PUT THIS SHIT ON MY TAB." Vantas blows you off and left without actually saying goodbye.

"Fine." You scoff yet again. "I'm busy too... not that it matters to you... you're already walking away."

. . .

One upside to your shit day was that your place wasn't far from here. When you left home, you didn't see the need to drive when you could walk and at least now you can walk off all this pent up steam inside of your chest. 

You began to trace your steps and walk back home.

You stepped foot outside of the restaurant and right when he got out the door, some stranger crashed head first into your pent up chest.

Your collision send the other young man right into the ground. 

_"Ouch."_ The stranger, who just crashed into you, had inky black hair and tan skin. His hair was already messy but he messed it up more as he rubbed the top of his head. You offered a hand to the poor guy sitting down on the ground in front of you.

The young man with an overbite took your hand and sweetly smiled up at you.

You lifted him up as the stranger adjusted his glasses with his free arm.

He's looking up at you with a sweet smile, it seems like he doesn't recognize you or know who you are. 

Something about that makes him even more... alluring to you.

You held onto him to make sure that he had his footing... also you didn't want to let go.

The young man awkwardly laughed, "sorry."

"It's alright." You smiled as you lightly sighed.

"God. I've been such a clutz today." The stranger's face was flushed with red, looks like he's blushing, that or he's been running for a while. 

You decided to focus on the former and not the ladder. You ask him, "what's your name?"

"Oh! John." John lifted up a hand, offering it up for you to shake. You took it and shook it.

"Dave." You responded. "You look a bit strung out and stressed, so I take it your day was **much **better than mine." 

"Aww. Poor thing." John closed his eyes and hummed out a giggle, "I'm really sorry about running into you like that!" 

You looked closely at the other boy's cute face, shit, he must be almost ten years younger than you.

Still. Gotta go in for the kill. 

"It's no problem, how about you make it up to me by taking me out to lunch sometime?" You dug into your back pocket and picked out a business card. "That's my personal number, text me later on today."

"OH! I'm _mr. popular_ today!" John smiled up at you as he took the card from your hand.

"Wh-why do you say that?" You felt a bit nervous, you tried to keep your cool but sweat began to pool behind your bangs. Shit. You still aren't used to talking with guys but you definitely feel ill equipt to talk with any guy _this_ cute. Even after all these failed forced dates. 

"You are the second guy today to give me their number!" John beamed you a grin.

"Uh." You sounded like you were in total disbelief, sounded just like you felt, hurt. "...really?"

John looked down at the cement. "I'd hate to tell you this but..."

John looked back up at you with a bit of a white twinkle in his ocean blue eyes, "he offered me up a date too." 

"Well then... I'm still happy if you'd just... you know... consider going on a date with me." You smiled at him. Hoping that optimism would do the trick. "We can do lunch tomorrow, at like 3 if you're okay with eating lunch that uh- late or early... I don't know." Ugh... God.. now you're rambling. John doesn't seem to mind though. John giggles in response to your offer, actually giggles. '_He's so adorable.' _

"So... 3 cool or...?" You ask him.

"Wait-" John has a look of panic in his eyes.

"AH!" John dragged out his phone and looked at the time. "Shit! It's almost 5!" His voice sounded so cute as he cursed.

"Sorry! I really have to go!" John started sweating again. 

"It's alright, I'd offer you a ride, but I walked here." You tell John, honestly meaning those words. 

"Oh! You are so sweet." John perks up. "Oh! Damn it! You are so hot you distracted me!"

John was clearly not thinking as he said that, he's in such a hurry he just allowed that to slip out.

You turned red at the comment but John was too distracted to notice as he started getting ready to take off again,

"I have to go! I have to run!" John started skipping off, he turned as he ran in place. Hopping on one foot and then the other, "bye, Dave! Get home safe!"

You lifted up a hand and whispered, "kay."

John took off with a sprint, he immediately started to get tired and slowed down. 

You laughed, slowly putting down your hand long after waving John goodbye. 

You placed it against your red cheek.

_'Maybe today wasn't a total waste.' _


	2. EXHAUSTION

You've been tired of work. Plus, you're tired of your life, probably because your fucking life was **work**.

Fucking everything you do is work.

You came home earlier in the day to your luxury apartment just to get changed for your arranged date.

Yep. That's right isn't it, you finally find the time to go home just to get changed. Not even to sleep. This months been hard on you, you've been sleeping in your office to get all the work done. Three nights in a row you sleep in your office in a sleeping back you've been hiding behind your desk.

In fact, you spend so little time in your own place that you've didn't fucking notice till you got home to change that you got jack-shit in your closet.

Of course, there was nothing in your closet formal enough for a date, everything is just baggy shirts and loose fitting pants that are too long for you. Eh, well you don't need to dress for the job you want when you already got it. At least you have a few white button-ups.

You ended up just tossing on your best looking jacket and left.

Now you're thinking that even that was too much effort for that Strider shit. 

When Dirk gave you a call to go out with some guy he knew, you didn't think that it would be Strider's smug-ass brother.

The Strider kid just kept wearing this shit-eating smirk on his face, chuckling at everything that you said and fucking acting like a juvenile. He did it one to many times, one of Dave's cock-sucking, mother-fucking looks was the straw that broke your back. 

At least now you know that anything attached to the name _Strider_ isn't worth the fucking trouble. 

You strolled out of the place after pretending you needed to leave.

Now you're standing outside, waiting for your ride to pick you up. Your driver just messaged you and said he was close by.

You ask yourself under your breath, _'THE FUCK IS HE?'_

Well, at least now you have the time to tell the president to go fuck herself.

You bet when she picks up she's just going to use your stupid fucking nickname. If she calls you Karkat even once today you are going to go ape-shit. 

You are right about to drag out your phone, but suddenly you were knocked down to the ground. You grunted as both of your shoulder bones hit the concrete. Before you even registered what happened, you hear someone gasp.

You feel someone shift their weight on top of you and quickly slide off.

"Ohmygod!_ Iamsososorry!"_

You feel someone wrap both of their small palms around one of your arms. Whoever just ran into you is trying to pull you up from the ground. You opened your eyes and looked up at some guy with wide blue eyes and a look of pure horror on his face.

You continue to let yourself get helped up by a young man with messy ebony hair and the fucking dumbest glasses you've ever seen. Something about those specs on him though... seemed... cute?

While he was helping you up, the damn twenty-something-year-old-kid kept on blurting out, "I am so sorry! I'm all turned around just looking for- uh- well I'm walking to a job interview, but you probably don't really care about that. It's not an excuse to just run full speed into someone!"

The man clasped his hands together once he finished pulling you back up, he sounded like he was begging for your forgiveness. "I am so, so very very sorry!"

Once you got back on your feet you wiped down your pants with your palms to dust off your legs of dirt.

You grunt in response, "NO. THIS IS JUST FUCKING FITTING FOR HOW** SHIT** MY DAY HAS FUCKING BEEN. HONESTLY, SMACKING THE CONCRETE WAS THE BEST THING THAT'S HAPPENED TO ME ALL DAY."

"Oh God." The young man places his hand on his heart. "You poor thing." 

The stranger leaned in and started brushing off your shoulders with his palms. He began speaking again, "here I was thinking I've been having a hard time of things. First thing I met once I got off the plane was a bee that stung me!" -He started chuckling- "And right now I'm completely lost and I can't believe I literally ran into someone having an even worse time then I am! You know, I just moved to New York about two-three days ago and I've been sleeping on a just mattress in a room with like no furniture! I just don't have the time to get a real bed frame! My back is killing me!" He snorted when he laughed. He simmered down his laughter to tell you, "-my weeks been horrible... but I can't imagine how horrible yours must feel right now. _Poor thing."_ He placed his hand back over his heart again once he called you 'poor thing' once again. 

_'HE'S BEEN SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR LIKE A CRACKHEAD AND HE'S MORE CONCERNED ABOUT ME?'_

You thought to yourself. _'HE MUST THINK I'M GOING TO SUE OR SOME-SHIT. IDIOT KID. I DON'T HAVE THE TIME FOR THAT.'_

The younger man finished brushing off your shoulders, he picked a hair off of your jacket and then placed his hands on his hips, "good as new!" He nodded.

"NEW?" You joke. "I THINK THIS JACKET IS AS OLD AS YOU ARE."

"You've had it for twenty-four years!?" The younger man gasped and smacked his cheeks with his palms.

Then the kid started laughing at his own little joke, he doesn't seem nervous at all, maybe you were wrong with your assumption he's scared you'll sue... maybe he's just... kind?

You started lightly laughing with him, still keeping your eyebrows lowered.

Can't let him see that you've got a soft spot for him. You don't even want to admit that to yourself.

You placed your hands into your two front pockets. Your watch is a bit loose on your wrist at the moment. You don't care to tighten it. You just threw it on for that shit date you just went to. If you lose it... maybe you can lose the memory it's going to carry with it too..

"Your watch is a bit loose." The boy pointed it out like your shoe was untied. "I can fix it for you. Here. Let me see."

The stranger took your wrist and began tightening up your silver watch. He lightly gasped as he looked at the clock's midnight black face and the diamonds encrusted into it. He's got a good eye and, hopefully, upscale taste.

_'IF THAT'S WHAT THIS KID LIKES...' _You don't finish the thought. You don't allow yourself too. You're not the kinda guy that wants to buy anyone over. Then again... this guys maybe worth the money...

"YOU LIKE IT?" You undid your watch's buckle. "IT'S YOURS." Once your watch is loose you take it off completely and drop it into the other man's hands. He quickly takes it, but only to place it back onto your wrist. You stop him by placing your palm over the top of the watch. The boy slowly backs away, looking down at the gift you just gave him.

"My god." The boy shakes his head in disbelief. "I can't take this." 

"LISTEN." You were fucking tired of explaining yourself, and fucking tired of... everything... but you can find the energy for this.

You stuck your hands back into your pockets as you sighed. "YOU'D GET MORE OUT OF THAT THING THEN I WOULD."

You shrugged as you said, "AND I HAVE DOZENS BACK AT HOME."

"It's still yours." The stranger held the watch up to your chest. "Please, take it back."

Your lids were permanently lowered but when you gaze at the stranger holding up your silver watch... you widened them slightly. You went right back to seeming unamused.

"WELL." You paused for a moment, thinking if this was a good idea or not.

_'EH, WHY NOT? FUCK IT.'_

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE IT UP TO ME OVER DINNER?"

"Hu!?" the man sounded surprised, "you don't even know my name and you are offering me the chance to buy you dinner?"

"OH NO, I'D BE BUYING." You corrected him. 

"Oh!" The stranger has a slight bit of playful annoyance to his voice, "now I definitely can't except this!" The boy placed one of his hands on his hip. "Listen, just because you're better dressed than me doesn't mean that I am low on funds!"

You glanced down at the man's wrinkled black dress pants and his crinkled button up.

The boy lifted up both of his hands like he was through with something. "Okay. So... I am low on funds... but I always dress like this, even if I _do_ have 'em." The young man hunched over as he sighed, the watch still clasped in his hands and held up in the air.

The boy with the inky black hair sighed and laughed before speaking again, "my name is John by the way." 

"KARSEN." You nod after you spoke your name.

You didn't offer your hand to shake John's like you usually do with business associates, something about John seemed like he deserved better treatment.

When John straightened himself back again, you gifted him a smirk.

A smirk from you is more of a smile than most of your work colleagues have ever seen.

"SO." You began. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE CITY? NEED DIRECTIONS?" You ask. You actually cared to ask if he needed help. Jesus. 

"Ah!" John clapped his hands together. "Aren't you just the sweetest!?"

John nodded with his hands still pressed together. "I could use the help! Do you know where the Prospit office building is?!"

_'HE'S LOOKING FOR PROSPIT CO.'S BUILDING NOW... IS HE?'_

You hum, letting him know without words that you do indeed know where it is.

"IF YOU GO DOWN HIS STREET HERE AND KEEP HEADING STRAIGHT YOU'LL SEE IT COME UP. JUST STAY ON THIS STREET." 

"oh, thank the lord." John sighs out the words as he clutched his heart.

You let slip a smile once you saw he closed his eyes.

"Oh!" John pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket. _'WHAT A NERD.'_ John clicked it and grabbed onto your wrist again. He wrote a number across your wrist in blue ink along with the words John Egbert :B underneath.

John looked up at you, still holding your wrist. John tilted his head and smiled at you. His smile slowly grew larger until his eyes were closed. He couldn't see you, it was safe to smile back. 

"Oh damn!" John just tensed up and opened his eyes.

You quickly dropped your smile and frowned.

"Uh-" John looked behind you and down the street. "I completely forgot that I have an interview today!"

John let go off your wrist and started walking off. "Bye Karsen! Wish me luck!" John waved at you as he walked away.

You didn't want John to go, but he needed too.

John stopped in his tracks. He was still staring at you. John tilted his head to the side, his lips started parting open. He looked like he was waiting on you to actually wish him luck.

"YOU'RE GONNA DO GREAT." You tell him the words you think he's waiting to hear.

John smiled at you, tilting his head slowly back up. He gasped again.

"OH! Gosh damn it!" John cursed. "I keep forgetting! I need to run!"

John took off at full speed. Hurrying off to his interview.

Even if he's late.

He's got the job.


	3. A Choice You Don't Have To Make

It was a miserable day to be John Egbert.

With what you heard about New York traffic, you thought it would be quicker to walk to your interview than to grab a bus or an uber, you were wrong. 

You just moved to the state so you didn't have the time to buy a bike.

Ugh. You had to bust your ass to get this interview so you couldn't be late under any circumstance! You just up-rooted your life and moved to the east coast for a job. As it turns out, the job deal fell through when the guy who agreed to hire you got laid off!

To make matters worse, you got horribly lost on your way to your _ new _ interview!

Thank God you were walking to one of the tallest buildings in the city! Everyone knew where it was and tried to point you in the right direction... but you ended up over thinking it and forgetting which way they said to turn. You've been trying to use maps on your phone but you still couldn't figure out your way around. 

Once you think you got it, you trudged on! Quickly stepping down the sidewalk and cutting through crowds to head over to the building.

You decided just now to check your phone again to view the map.

Once your eyes gaze down to your phone screen you bump right into some stranger and land right on top of him!

_ 'OhGodOhGodOhGod!' _

You can't **_believe_** you just did that! You let him know by blubbering on-and-on about how you majorly fucked up just now.

You help him up as quick as you can! Once he straightens up you get a good look at him.

_ 'Ugh... nooooo.' _

He's so handsome. That suit. That tousled, loose black hair. His chestnut skin. Aww... he has rings under his eyes, the poor thing.

Once he started talking about how his day was horrible you snapped out of your trance.

You completely understand him. 

You confessed how difficult adjusting to life in the big apple has been for you, and you haven't even been here half a week. 

You continued on, brushing off the dust off of his jacket. After you cracked a little joke to amuse yourself the other man... offers you his watch!? How can he just give out something so pricey like this!? You want to give it back to him! You can't except such a nice gift without giving something in return. He said he has more back at home but... even so... this is probably the most expensive accessory you've ever held onto in your life. You can't even venture a guess for how much it has to be worth. You offer to give it back to him. Then he just chooses to say words that make your heart stop.

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE IT UP TO ME OVER DINNER?"

How can a man, so wealthy and so kind, want to date you?! He's insanely out of your league. You are like a 4, maybe a 5 on a good day, and this guy is a hard 9. At least to you. You can see that soft, sweet, mushy character he has underneath the surface of baggy eyes and his grumpy frown. If you can get this guy to smile on your date he's going to be a full blown 10!

You smile at him, raising your brow as you say in jest, "you don't even know my name and you are offering me the chance to buy you dinner?"

Much to your surprise, he wants to buy **you **dinner. Oh God. You are really hoping he isn't offering to be your sugar daddy! You want a real relationship, a real connection with someone. Then again, this man seems so kind... this can't just be something as superficial as a wealthy man offering to buy you up. Something about him feels much more sincere, you can sense he has a tired soul, one in need of not just a lover... but a friend.

You offer him up your name and he gives you his. Karsen. You feel like sighing. 

How can you be so smitten already? You haven't even finished having your first conversation with the guy!

He stares at you blankly, then... suddenly... he smiles.

Your heart starts pounding, your head is reeling.

You can hardly think. He's talking. He's offering you directions.

You clap your hands together to wake yourself up before you start drifting off into a daydream about this guy taking you out on a date and swooping you up in his arms -which in your defense is totally going to happen, you just know it. 

Karsen gives you directions, you're relieved to hear that you're on the right track and that the directions are as simple as 'walk in a straight line.'

You quickly jolt up, you scramble to grab your pen and jot down your name and number. You give him a little :B so he remembers that it's the number of the cute sweet boy with the buck teeth. You hold onto his wrist, you don't want to let go of him just yet. Not that now you have your hands on such a keeper.

Karsen is definitely something you're going to have to phone home about -_well not literally-_ Your bestie is going to be so fucking pumped when you get home!

Ha! Not even your first week in New York, and you've got a cute boyfriend!!! You feel like screaming. You smile so hard that you shut your eyes. 

NO! You forgot! You have to run to your interview! 

You ask Karsen to "wish me luck!"

You need to leave, but the silly billy still hasn't wished you luck yet!

"YOU'RE GONNA DO GREAT." Once you got words of encouragement from your future obsession you took off!

You should have watched were you were going though, you bumped into yet another innocent victim. Of course, you're more injured. 

Well. At least this time the guy's feet stayed on the ground.

You fell down to the floor and started rubbing the top of your head.

This guy must have abs of steel because he didn't even budge when you headbutted him.

He bent down and offered you a hand.

You let out a breathy sigh.

This guy is so handsome, snowy white hair. It looks natural, like he's albino. You can't see his eyes under his shades. Good thing too. If you could you might start falling for him. He's got such a gentle smile and you don't need a new crush when you just landed a, potential, boyfriend...

_ 'potential... yeah... potential.' _ You dwell on the thought for just a moment. _ 'potentially... Karsen might not call back.' _

The man in front of you asked you for your name. You check back into reality. Yeah. He probably is just being polite to you anyway. What are the chances that he wants to date you too.

Two guys in one day? ...yeah, you aren't that lucky.

Out of the blue, he offers you to take him out to lunch. No fucking way that's an offer for a date. You aren't even going to get your hopes up as you take the card in his hands with his number on it. 

You tell him how you are "mr. popular!" and that he's the second guy to give you their number today.

He looks... so... taken back. Like he is...disappointed...?

_ 'Wait... HE _ ** _IS_ ** _ OFFERING ME UP A _ ** _DATE!?!?!_ ** _ " _

You look down at the cement beneath your shoes. You can't believe this. Two men want to take you out on a date?

You have to confess to this stranger that Karsen offered you up a date... Still, Dave seems so determined to get a date out of you. and **he** just handed **you** his number.

Dave's giving you the high ground to call him. You might never hear back from Karsen... 

Still... you feel a slight twinge in your soul. Like you might be betraying your own heart.

You can't focus on that right now. You have to get to your interview!

You run off. Apologizing for having to part so quickly and melting at his spoken lament for not being able to give you a ride.

You head off. Bolting towards the building. Hoping that your deodorant and cologne masks the smell of sweat.

You can't believe your luck today with how horrible it's been during the start of the week! There’s no way a guy like _ you _ should be getting two hot, wealthy, thirty-something-or-other year old guys. _ 'Do people in the city just date every guy who runs into them!?' _This has got to be a prank, but then again with your awful luck, this might be a counter balance to all the shit luck you've been having. 

You'll have to wait and see if you get this job.

You run into the building and head up the elevator, you pant as you press the button to head to the floor you were told to meet your interviewer on. You collect yourself, panting and fanning your face.

If you want this job you need to make sure that you look at least respectable, oh wow. You might not get this job after all, looking respectable is a bit too much for you to hope for.

You chuckle to yourself and sigh. You pull out your phone and see that you just got a text from an unknown number.

* * *

HEY

ITS KARSEN

JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW

YOU'VE GOT THE JOB

* * *

You smile down at your phone. You sure hope so. He sure seems confident that you do.

Although... you might not have it after all, now that you're ten minutes late!

You stare down at the tiny white numbers on your phone. It feels like the digits are screaming at you how effed in the a you are.

The door dings. It takes a few seconds for it to part open, but once it does, you are out into the hall and start scanning around for the room for where you need to head. Right in front of you is a desk. You head right to it.

You rush over and speak to the woman at the desk. She glances up at you and sees how out of breath you are.

"My name is John Egbert-" You swallow down some spit. "-I got lost. I just moved here and well- I have an interview."

The woman opened her mouth to answer you but was cut right off by the sound of another woman's voice,

“Have you heard from a man named, John Egbert?”

“Yes, madam president!” The woman at the help desk was quick to answer. "He's right here, ma'am."

You looked over at the woman who asked for you by name.

She had a red and white probing cane in her hand and shades on her face. 

You turned to her and answered, "That would be me, ma'am."

The president tilted her head towards your voice. She took a moment before she responded to you, “I was informed of why you were late, also I was given a_ recommendation _ we should hire you.” For some reason... she sounds pissed.

"What?" You lightly breathe out the word. The president herself came here to speak with you, saying she got a recommendation...

_ 'but who would...?' _

You told Karsen where you were heading but not Dave... he must have some job here and called up the president herself to tell her you spoke with him.

_ 'Good lord. This is next level sugar daddy shit.' _

Your train of thought is broken once the woman in front of you speaks up again.

"Well. Orientation will be tomorrow morning." The president began walking off. "Don't be late."

"Uh- yes! Madam, uh- madam president!" You call out to her. You have no idea how you're supposed to address her. You hope she can tell that you're at least trying to figure that out.

She takes her leave, leaving you alone with the woman behind the desk. She speaks up, saying,

"I'll give you all the information you’ll need then." 

You lightly nod a few quick times in rapid succession. 

You slowly blink. The woman at the desk is getting together a few sheets for you and she is taking her time as she's putting them into a folder.

You can't resist the urge to take out your phone and look at the message that Karsen must have just sent you.

* * *

FOUND SOME TIME TO TAKE YOU OUT TOMORROW.

HOPE YOU DON'T MIND I'LL ONLY HAVE AN HOUR.

* * *

You can't resist sending him a stupid message. You need to thank him somehow anyway.

* * *

<3333333333

I'LL TAKE THAT RESPONSE AS A SIGN YOU DON'T MIND.

* * *

"Sir?" The woman behind the desk just spoke up to get your attention.

You look up from your phone. "Oh! Sorry. I was just thanking the person who recommended me, he sent me a text."

"Oh, you're fine." She waved her hand to show you that she was brushing the whole thing off. She's smiling so it must be fine that you're on your phone. You guess in this place it's normal everyone keeps in contact with their little network of coworkers 24/7. Your old job you'd get scolded for even looking at the time. Thank God this place is different.

You took the papers gently out of the other employees hand. You're smiling at the thought that you can think of this woman as a co-worker. She speaks up again, "would it be alright if I asked who recommended you."

You don't want to admit you don't know his last name, you can speak casually of him anyway. He's probably your new boytoy any ho. "Oh! I ran into Karsen and we chatted."

Her eyes slowly widened as her eyebrows lowered. She nodded once.

She pulled out her personal business card as quickly as an action hero would pull out a gun and handed it to you.

"If you ever need anything, or need to know how this place works. Don't hesitate to ask me."

Once you got to your place you opened the door and jumped right into to venting about how intense your day has been to your roommate.

Jade seemed concerned as she sat on the couch the two of you bought yesterday. She's just watching you as you pace back and forth. You started telling Jade how lucky you've been today and that "apparently, at my new job, I have weight to throw around! I just brought up Karsen's name and the woman behind the counter held up her business card like she wanted me to owe her a favor!"

"-wait, wait wait." Jade lifted up a palm to wave at you as she held her forehead with the other. "Who is Karsen? Why did you barge in screaming at me? And what is with that watch?" She gestured for you to come closer to her. You took a step forward and she grabbed your wrist.

"Holy..." She glanced down at your new watch and whistled. "You know my grandpa wears Cartiers."

"I bet he owns the company that makes them." You sigh and roll your eyes.

God... Why is everyone you know in this city loaded? You sigh as you think to yourself,_ 'probably cause it's Manhattan.'_

"Where did you get this?" Jade shook her head as she looked up at you.

"Karsen gave it to me after I bumped into him..." You pressed your lips together, trying hard to suppress a smile. You can't help it. You start laughing. "I've got_** some**_ shit to tell you."

Jade clapped her hands together. She happily started laughing along with you.

"AH!!!" She let out an excited scream. "Did you **finally **get a man!?"

"Don't you know it?!" You smiled.

Jade continued to scream and cheer as she dragged you into a tight hug.

Jade's well aware you've never landed a man before, let alone a boy when you were still in school. You knew Jade since the two of you were kids. You met her in private school, she was home schooled up until fifth grade so she wasn't the best with personal boundaries or her volume level. Made some kids not want to hang with the new nerdy robotics kid but the two of you bonded right away. Of course you had no idea who she really was until about a year later when she finally had you over her place for a sleepover. Jade's a sweet girl, she always wanted to keep her wealth a secret from others and right now she wants to make her own name. She's trying her best to start her own engineering company that can rival her grandfather's and well... you're trying to just try. You don't know what you're going to fucking do with this marketing degree but you have it.

Jade is belting out a bunch of questions, "what's he like!? What does he look like? Graded scale of one to a hundred, **how kissable? HOW FUCKABLE?!"**

"Jade!?" You reel your head back, "what are you- okay... like 84 for kissable and 95 for the other thing."

"Ahhh hahahaa!" Jade is getting a kick out of this. "You've got to take a picture of him for me!!!"

"I will when I can." You bite down on your bottom lip and try not to start giggling. "Buuuut...."

Jade perks up, her green eyes darting up to look into yours. "But?" She asks.

"You should really be asking me about the _ other _guy."

"OTHER GUY!?" She hops up and grabs both of your hands. "TWO GUYS?"

You quickly nod. "Two men asked me out on my way to Prospit."

**"No waaaay!!!"** Jade's knees bent as she buckled backward. She quickly brought herself back up straight again and told you, "You've got two boyfriends?!"

**"No!?"** You say with so much force your head shakes. "I've got the option for two dates."

"Well! Tell me about them!" Jade is still holding onto your hands, she pulls you down with her as she sits back on the couch. 

Jade asks you again, "Scale! Scale!"

"Okay-okay!" You laugh as you calm her down. "Dave's about maybe a 95 for kissable and 86 for fuckable. He's more cute than anything else." You giggle.

"Oh my god, okay so you've got Dave_ and-" _She's holding out the last syllable. 

"Karsen." You gave Jade his name as you rolled your eyes.

"Ah!" Jade cheered. "Tell me about him first!" She clapped her hands together.

"Well." You nod. "Karsen is _ really _ handsome -he's the one who got me my job, by the way- and apparently he's high enough in the career ladder to know the president of the company personally." 

"Wow! That is some shit!" Jade gazed past her large round specs and into your eyes, she's leaning in closer towards you and gaping in awe as you continue,

"Karsen gave me this watch after I bumped into him- and I mean that literally. I ran into him and knocked him over, and Karsen was having a rough day, but he insisted I go out with him on a date and take his watch. If I go, I'm going to wear it and try to show him just how much I appreciate how kind he's been to me."

She slowly started nodding, like she was nodding more at her own thoughts than your story. "Sounds like he wants to pound your ass." 

You nod back at her, staring with wide eyes. "Sometimes you can really be too much Jade, you know that?"

"John." She shook her head as she leaned in closer to you, "you've got yourself a sugar daddy. Getting you jobs, handing you watches. What do you think sugar daddies are after? Nice romantic dates and cute tiny little pecks on the cheek? Awww... From a cute little thing like you?" She pinches your cheek and the lightly slaps it. "Yeah, sure this guy just saw your twenty-something ass and thought it was worth burning money for."

"Ugh." You roll your eyes. You guess she's had her fair share of guys trying to buy her. You know guys used to break their necks to get with Jade. Those guys didn't have any clue how wealthy she was. They just saw this beautiful, Polynesian girl with glowing dark skin and long flowing black hair and an hourglass figure. They'd offer her up dates and when she'd go she would always tell you the same story. Men just tossing cash at her in a desperate attempt to impress her. Jade's just looking for a guy who looks at her eyes and her mind and not her... in her own words, "honking tits."

You shake your head. You never thought you'd ever get guys breaking your neck for you. But two guys in one day bumped into you and... maybe she is right... maybe they just want a piece.

"How about the other guy?" Jade asks. "What's he like."

"Dave? He's very sweet, he seemed nervous when he was talking to me, like he had a crush already. He seemed so tense when he handed me his card and his face turned pink. It was so cute! He was just cute in general!"

"So what do these two look like?" Jade asks.

"Well, Karsen has this mid-tone skin, black hair, he seemed tired because he had baggy eyes. His voice is kind of scratchy but he seems like he's got this soft, soft heart underneath it all-"

"Looks! Looks!" Jade snapped her fingers in-front of your face. "We're being superficial here! I want to hear how fuckable they really are!"

"Hey!" You moved Jade's hands out of your face. "I- I'd want to date some guy I can make a real, genuine connection with! I don't care that much about looks!"

"Ugh!" Jade groaned. "Okay- let's just move on. Tell me about the other one."

You guess she wants to know the gist of how he looks, "Dave is tall, he's got white, white hair, and it looks natural. He's pale and-"

Jade interrupted you to ask, "was he wearing shades?" 

"Do you...? Know him?" You ask her, you almost sound like you're in shock.

"Fuck me." Jade lowers her eyes and her brows, she looks like she's concerned about a thought in her head.

"Hold on, Jade." You wanted to ask her more but when you opened up your mouth she sushed you.

"Wait." Jade pulled out her phone after she was done shushing you.

Jade types in something quickly and then scrolls down to find something.

"Is this him?" Jade asks as she shows you the image of the man you ran into, she pulled that up so quickly on her phone, you can't believe it. The guy must be like really popular. 

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." You glance down at Jade’s phone's screen as you took it into your hands.

You scan the photo. It's Dave alright, and he's sitting down in some nice looking room, talking to a camera on mute.

"He was wearing something just like that too. The shades and everything." You look closely at his red jacket. The suit he was wearing when you met him was way nicer.

"He lives in Manhattan..." Jade trails off.

"Is he like um... super popular?" You ask her as you hand Jade back her phone.

"He's fucking famous, John!" Jade holds the phone up to you. "You aren't fucking with me are you? This isn't one of your shitty ass pranks, is it?" 

"I didn't know who he was!" You tell her.

"Honestly?" Jade asks you, "I play his videos like everyday on my laptop!"

"I never listen in on your shit! You know I don't care for those types of videos. I only watch movies on Netflix and shit!”

You would continue explaining that you don't like doing anything online except for talking over those IM- chat thingys, but it seems like Jade got the message.

Jade looks like she's dazed. You focus more on her than your own racing heart.

"Jade?" You try to gain back her attention. "Jade?"

She continues to blankly stare ahead, at nothing.

"shit." Jade whispers to herself. "I can't believe my celebrity crush is this close to home."

She looks back up at you, "do me one kindness, John." 

You look into Jade's eyes, she sounds so sincere. Maybe like she's going to ask that you treat him right or let him down easy.

Jade asks with a gentle tone, “When you finally get around to sucking it, can you tell me what his cock looks like?" 

"What." Any and all concern you have for Jade is completely gone. 

"I really. really need to know." Jade nods her head and then closes her eyes.

You shake your head and say,

"I don't know why I'm talking to you about this right now."

You stop shaking your head and nod instead. "I need to think about who I'm going to go out with."

"Both. **Duh!**" Jade looked at you like you were an idiot. 

"Okay- be serious." You tell her.

"Ugh. I am serious!" Jade rolled her eyes. "Come on, John. Live the dream."

"No. I can't." You shake your head. "I'm not going to be a two-timing-"

"-twink?" Jade interrupts you.

You give her a grumpy pout. You didn't even bother finishing your sentence, she's just going to keep saying 'twink, twink, twink.' over anything you say.

You close your eyes and then lifted up your chin.

You cross your arms and stand firm, "I'm not going to go behind anyone's backs."

"Who said you have to?" Jade lifts up her arms and makes a gesture with both of her hands, "you can date them both."

"You mean like... go on a first date with both of them... and pick who... I like more?" You start to think about it. Maybe that is reasonable, to give them both a shot. But it isn't fair to either of them really. Judging them both by a first date and that alone... You sigh and run your fingers though the roots of your hair. "I don't know. Jade... isn't that a dick move?"

"No. It's a pro move." Jade crossed her arms right after she pushed up her round black rimmed glasses. "You could use two guys buying you dinner right now! My internship pays diddly squat! Get some dinner, get some lunch and bring me home the left overs!" There she goes again. Jade is insistent that you earn your own keep. At least she sees no issue in using her grandpa's cash to pay rent. 

"UGH." You groaned.

She factored money into this. She knows you can't say no to that right now. She knows everything about you actually. She's practically been a sister to you almost your entire life. The two of you share everything too, hair brushes, secrets, streaming accounts. For all intensive purposes Jade Harley is your big sis. And just like a big sis, you don't have to listen to her if you don't want too. 

"I want to actually have a relationship." You tell her. "A boyfriend, not a sugar daddy."

"Then go with Dave! He's super cute and underneath all of his jokes he's a swee-"

"Jokes?" You perk up. You love comedy. If this guy is funny, the two of you might stand a strong chance at falling in love. "Is he funny?!" You cheerfully ask.

"He's super funny, but like in the surreal kind of fucked up way most internet humor is now." Jade explains. 

You tell her, "you know I don't like that sort of thing." 

"You might! If you give him the chance!" Jade is practically begging you to give him the chance to steal your heart.

"Be honest." You look down on her as you hold her hands, "do you just want to meet him?"

"Let me, John! Please!" Jade jokingly begs.

"Jade. I have to be honest." You confess."I think I might have more of a connection with Karsen..."

"John." Jade looked down on you just like you just did to her, "be honest... do you just want a sugar daddy?"

"Ugh!" You grunt. "Can you... actually give me some real help. I promise I'll lay off of_ you,_ if you lay off of_ me_!"

"Okay. Okay!" Jade nods. "I know how big of a deal this is to you, no more kidding around."

"Thank you." You smile softly at your best friend from childhood, the girl who is practically your sister. 

Jade smiles just as softly back.

Jade straightens out her back and sighs. "Okay. So!"

Jade holds onto your hands as she asks you, "you said, you think you and Karsen might have some kind of connection? Right?" Jade tilted her head slightly as she asked, "why is that?"

"Well..." You think about it. "He seemed very tired, like he was just through with everything, and I thought that he seemed like he could use something real, like he was looking for **something real**. He just handed me his watch, and it didn't seem like he was doing to try to impress me. It seemed like Karsen just wanted to be rid of it... like he was sick of how stressful his work was and how much of a burden it all was on him... then again..."

You drift off, thinking about Dave. "Dave seemed like he was nervous about speaking with me, like he wasn't that confident in himself... I think he might need a little push in the right direction. He seemed like he really wanted me to go to lunch with him but he was trying to hold himself back... I get that feeling. I always wanted to be with another guy and now... that I have to pick between two... I don't think I can."

"Okay." Jade nodded. "So... My advice -and you don't have to do anything I say, just hear me out before you judge- call the two of them up. Tell them that another guy wants to date you, tell them you want to go on a date with them both- uh- maybe make sure they know you mean separately..." Jade put a finger up to her chin and then quickly waved her finger up in the air. "Call them! Ask! See what their reactions are!"

You don't think that is a half- bad idea, actually... it's a fully-good idea!

You nod and tell her, "so like, tell them that I want to get to know them both before I come to a decision of who I want to date - over a call - over the phone." You nod to yourself. "I can do that."

* * *

"I can't do this!”

You are biting down on your nails with your overbite. Standing in the middle of the room, still pacing around the living room floor. 

Jade reels her head back and groans for the fiftieth time today. She's still sitting on the couch.

"You can!" Jade tells you, practically growling. 

"I can't! I can't! I **know** I can't!" You pace back and forth, ready to tear your hair out.

"We just spent thirty minutes thinking about what you were going to say!" Jade lifts up her hands and then falls back into the couch with a loud “oof!”

"I know!" You hunch over and smack your hand against your head, the other hand is still holding your phone. 

Jade sighs and sits up off of the couch. She walks towards you and lifts up her arms to hold your sides.

Jade grabs your phone. "Listen John... if you don't want to do this you don't have to..."

"Thanks, Jade..." You sigh and close your eyes. "Maybe I should just think of something else. Something less... awkward."

"John. If you don't want to figure things out this way then you really.... honestly... don't have to..." Jade gave you back your phone. 

"Right.... I don't..." You sigh again, with your eyes still closed. "I don't think I should do this..."

Jade sounds calm and peaceful as she says, "then... hang up."

"Hang up?" You open your eyes and look at her.

Jade has on a malicious smile.

You feel the phone buzz in your hand. 

She dialed in Dave's number and slipped it back into your hand.

You feel like tossing the phone at her head, but instead you panic. Wordlessly mouthing, 'what do I do!?'

You run back and forwards, like you are holding onto a bomb that's five seconds away from exploding. 

"Hello?" You hear Dave's voice. He just picked up.

_ 'DAMN IT!' _

You answer, "hey- uh... this is John, the guy who literally ran into you- ha." 

"Oh!" Dave sounds excited that you called. "I was waiting for you to call, I just didn't think I would get a call so soon- I uh-" Dave coughed. "I'd like to know if we're on for lunch tomorrow?" 

"Oh! I actually called about... that... you see the thing is..." You swallowed down your fear. "I already told you another guy gave me his number..."

"Oh..." Dave sounded heartbroken, just that one 'oh' carried so much weight to it.

"But- I was- uh- thinking... that maybe I could go on a date with you and then a date with... uh... the other guy and see... maybe... if the two of us are a better fit...?" You sound like you're the one confused about this instead of the one explaining it. 

You quickly adjust and tell him, "I just! Well- I don't want to get your hopes up, but I don't want to not give you a shot! You seem so sweet -Uh- and I think if we talked over lunch -an-and then I talk with my other date over dinner I could.. I… you… um…”

"I understand." Dave said. "I think that’s fair.”

"You do!?" You perk up. "Pffew! I thought I lost you there for a moment!"

"Nah." Dave told you. “Dude, if I were in your situation, I’d do the same thing.”

“Really!?” You gasp and then grin. "You would!?"

“Yeah, man... unless it’s between you and some other guy, then I’d pick you in an instant.” Dave tells you with confidence. "Never met a guy cuter than you."

“Awww.” You place your hand over your heart. "You are so sweet."

"Did you call the other dude yet? He up for that too?" Dave asked you.

"Not yet..." You dwell on it for a moment, Karsen might not be up for that... but since Dave seems to think it's fair. You might just end up with Dave regardless. Maybe that's what's going through his mind right now since he says, "Okay- well. Text me and let me know how it goes."

"Okay. Oh! Can you text me where you want to eat lunch too?" You ask the cutie over the phone, "just so I know the place in advance, I don't wanna be late for our date!" You nervously giggle. 

"Sure thing." Dave tells you. "Sorry, but I have to get back to work. We're about to record."

"Bye!" You cheer for him, "good luck with your show! My roommate just showed me some of your stuff!"

"Oh really, what do... uh- what do you think of it?" Dave asks.

You giggle. "We can talk about that later, you have work you need to get back to and I have a horrifying call I have to make."

"Sounds like I should be the one wishing you luck." Dave says. 

"I'm willing to bet that you don't want to." You smile at your phone. Dizzily thinking of how much a cute guy wants you.

"I want to date you, sure. But if this guy gives you shit, let me know." Dave tells you. "I'll set him straight."

"I'm sure my roommates got you covered." You tell him. "She's already set up the couch so she can hold me when I cry if he yells at me."

You meant that as a joke, after you said it, you feel like that came off as sad.

"No- man." Dave speaks up again. "That happens; you call me, give me that guys number and I'll straighten him out."

You lightly gasp.

Dave tells you, "I'm not going to let any guy mess with you like that, you've got a good heart, John. I can see it."

"I- I feel the same way about you..." You confess.

You spend a few moments, silently drifting off, with no thought in mind at all. Just letting yourself feel Dave's concern, letting yourself feel his heart.

Dave breaks the silence, "I still have to go... I'm sorry. I can let you know when I'm done."

"Okay." You smile at your phone. "Bye, now."

"Peace." Dave gives you a few more moments of silence before he hangs up. 

You sigh.

You look up at the ceiling and hold your phone to your chest. 

"He's so sweet..." You tell Jade, you look down and into her eyes as you say, "I think I'll be alright if Karsen hates me... I'll live." 

"Alright..." Jade nods. "So... call him."

_"Okaaaay."_ You let out a breathy sigh. Still smitten by Dave, your head is filled with cotton and your chest is filled with warm air. You feel like your drifting in the clouds... in some hot air balloon. You giggle as you mindlessly press your phone's screen, and call your other man.

It takes a few rings before he picks up, in the meantime you've been mindlessly blinking and humming to yourself. Thoughts of Dave offering to chew Karsen out still playing around in your head. You're sure it won't come to that, but even if it did... you still come out a winner.

Karsen picked up with a gruff "JOHN?"

"Hi!" You smile at the phone, "I have something... uh- I have to ask you."

"WHAT IS IT?" Karsen quickly corrected himself, he came off a little rude, but you're sure he didn't mean too. "I DON'T MEAN TO RUSH YOU, BUT I WAS IN A MEETING." 

"Oh!" You suddenly feel nervous about this. "Well... maybe I should call you later, when you have time."

"NO, IF IT'S A QUICK QUESTION, THEN YOU'RE FINE." Karsen sounds like he's trying to make you feel better about all this." I'M ALWAYS WILLING TO MAKE TIME FOR YOU REGARDLESS."

You gasp in air, you feel your heart get pulled back as you gasp. You want to scream, he's so good to you!!!

Oh God... Oh no... you might break his heart with this...

"Uh..." You suddenly lose your nerve. "I... I um..."

"YES?" Karsen is waiting on you, he's got things to do, he's making time for you and everything.

You could tell him not to worry about it, but he already said he's got like no time tomorrow and you'll only have an hour together and you can't just hide this from him.

"JOHN?" Karsen calls your name.

"Okay... so..." You bury down everything in your head, you just say what you called to say, "I hope this isn't a rude thing to ask of you but... okay- another man ran into me yesterday, he offered me a date... He was so kind to me that I thought- it might be fair to give you both a chance. I don't want to put you in the-"

"WAIT." Karsen stops you from talking.

Your heart sinks.

"SO YOU WANT TO GO ON A DATE WITH HIM AND THEN ME OR VISE-VERSA- THEN PICK WHO YOU LIKE MORE- IS THAT WHAT I AM HEARING?" Karsen asks you to clarify. 

"Uh..." You nervously say. "I... Yes... but-"

"ALRIGHT." Karsen sounded like he's content with that idea.

"You're... alright with that?" You ask him.

"YEAH." Karsen sounded content. "I'M CERTAIN YOU'LL PREFER ME."

"I like that confidence!" You happily tell him and then giggle.

"I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU OUT ON SUCH A NICE DATE. YOU'RE GOING TO BE **COMPLETELY** CERTAIN THAT YOU'LL NEVER WANT ANOTHER GUY."

Your heart sinks at his words.

"YOUR MIND'S GOING TO BE SET ON ME." Karsen tells you. 

"I... oh wow." You feel breathless. "I- I'm speechless..." 

"JOHN, I'M HONESTLY READY TO TAKE THIS THING AS FAR AS YOU WANT. IF YOU WANT TO TEST THE WATERS WITH SOME OTHER GUY... WELL, I CAN LIVE WITH THAT. I ALREADY KNEW WHEN I MEET YOU THAT OTHER GUYS ARE GOING TO DO WHAT THEY CAN TO SNATCH YOU UP. BUT I'M GOING TO PROVE TO YOU HOW MUCH I WANT THIS TO WORK OUT. I WANT THIS TO LAST. IT'S SO RARE I EVER MEET ANYONE LIKE YOU." Karsen stopped speaking for a moment. "I'M SO CRAZY ABOUT YOU- I'M RAMBLING, YEP. I'M FUCKING RAMBLING."

You gently tell him. "I didn't think that you were rambling, sweetheart." 

"That was all..." You pause. "You really feel that way about me?"

"I WOULDN'T SAY IT IF I DIDN'T MEAN IT. I WOULDN'T FUCK WITH YOU LIKE THAT."

"I... I... I'm looking for something real too..." You confess. "I want to find something special."

"I CAN BE THAT." Karsen sounds certain.

"I still... I have to give everything a chance, just so I know I didn't miss something..."

"I UNDERSTAND." Karsen tells you. "I NEED TO GET BACK TO MY MEETING NOW, ARE WE STILL ON FOR DINNER?"

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely." You tell him.

"CAN'T WAIT." Karsen tells you, "BYE."

"Goodbye." You say as you let him go.

You hang up the call yourself. 

You drop your arm holding your phone.

You walk over to the couch, dragging yourself like you are a walking corpse.

You sit down next to Jade.

You sigh.

“This is going to be harder than I thought.”

Jade pulled you into a hug. She stroked your arm.

Jade is much taller than you so she places her chin on top of your head, she softly says,

"I can't believe you gave Dave and 86 for fuckable." Jade whispered out a whimper, "he's a perfect 10."

You groan.


	4. addendum

When you got that call from John you were already re-recording the addendums you needed to make to your video, you made the production halt completely so you could take the call at your desk. You couldn't miss it. It was important. It was a call from your boyfriend/

You talked to John over the phone and lightly swung your desk chair left-to-right with one of your legs. You gazed up at the ceiling and just listened to him talk. John's so sweet and encouraging, you need something like that right now in your life. You're really hoping that John's going to enjoy hanging out with you... maybe if you can make him feel comfortable and happy then John'll want to hang out more. But you can't come off like a friend. You have to still romance the guy- oh. Yeah... You had to get back to finishing up your recording, you were holding up your crew.

Once you hung up on your new boyfriend... everyone was grinning at you, staring and smiling at how hard you were blushing.

Your face started to flush even more than before, and your palms were already sweating. 

"We can all take five." You tell your crew.

"No time." Rose buts in. She points at your laptop in front of you. "We already have less than an hour to edit all of this in, and we all know how much of a perfectionist you are." Rose joked. Well... only half-joked. You are fuckin' obsessed with making everything perfect...

You groan. The other members of your crew started snickering again. You chose to ignore them. Gotta let the shit just roll off your back.

"Don't we have enough to work with now?" You ask her.

"You still have to add in your reaction to about... hmm... three different things that just popped up."

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" You ask Rose.

"Won't be interesting tomorrow." Lalonde points out. 

"Well, I made my name talking about shit I actually care about- or shit that is actually funny." You blow the whole thing off as you tell Rose, "These stories you gave me are bullshit. Quote me on that, I don't give a shit about the shit that just went down."

"You have bigger things going on in your life?" Rose asked you.

You roll your eyes and sigh. You want to make some obscene joke about it being bigger than something-something's dick, but you let it slide. Oh damn, you should have said her mom’s ass. That shit always gets to her.

"Well..." Rose laughed at you. "We could leave some of that call in. If that's what's important to you."

You glare at her. 

"Just..." You sigh. "Read me back your notes on the new story."

* * *

hey

so 3 at the uva cool?

i mean

i can take you anywhere you want

just

theyve got pizza

and i thought

we could maybe share

then you could take home the leftovers

as something to remember me by

why did i say that like im dying?

fuck

Try again.

okay

shit

is 3 at the uva cool with you?

* * *

You pause, you let Dirk go. Like you're waiting for a text back from John.

* * *

He might ask you, "what kind of food is it?"

its italian i think 

they have pizzas

Oh, so you want someone you can eat pizzas with and talk?

yeah

A lot of men can do that.

damn it

Wealthy men, can do that.

all of the men you dragged me into dating were fucking lowlifes at best and creeps at worst

All I'm asking is that you try to find someone worth the time, if you want a friend then this guy sounds perfect for that.

But you need to actually date someone you CAN marry.

You know I want to see you settle down with someone who can financially support you.

he has a job

and i can support myself

What if he's just after your money then, Dave? Think about that. He might just be playing you for coin.

he didnt even know who i was until his roommate told him

How can you be certain about that?

Dave? Have you even thought this thing through?

* * *

You just give up. You can't talk to your bro about any of this.  
He's just going to be on your ass about marrying some rich guy and dumping John.  
You already know that John has options, John's a fuckin keeper and he's thinking about staying with you.  
You can't just walk away from him, John's exactly the kinda person you've been waiting to meet.   
You're sticking with your guns on this one.

* * *

Dave... You still haven't answered me yet.

i do have a plan

Which is?

date him

ignore you

Says the man who came running for my assistance.

and thank you for that

now that i had my fun

im off

* * *

You don't spend another moment thinking about it. You need to just talk to John now, if you don't, you're going to spent probably another hour battling yourself on how to approach him. You didn't want to go through that, that's why you practiced in the first place.

You quickly build up your nerve and send a message.

Ha. There's a chance John might not even read it till later anyway...

* * *

hey

3 at the uva cool with you?

oh! what kind of food is that?!

* * *

_'shit.'_

* * *

italian

ohhhh!

i could go for pizza!

do you know if they sell them by the slice?

dont think they do

but i wanted some anyway

how about i get one for the two of us to share and you can take home the rest?

really!?

you are so gosh darn cool already, dave!

* * *

**He's so cute!** Too cute. Jesus, the fuck are you gonna do!?

* * *

I'll meet you up first thing after my orientation.

you got the job?

congrats man

thank you!

i honestly can't believe i got it!

im horribly under qualified to even be a secretary in a place like THAT!

i bet that youre a hard worker

they must have seen that

just took one look at you and thought

shit that guy is fuckin' ready to dominate the floor

taking calls and shit

hes got it covered

can tell just by the look in his eyes this guys got what it takes to fuckin do the job of three people

fuck me this guys over here printing next weeks meeting plans and curating notes while hes putting in my starbucks order

just asked me if i wanted whip cream or not

howd he know i didnt?

youre just a pro like that

is what i mean

oh my god.

wow...

* * *

Your heart sinks, this is just the shit you meant to avoid.  
Of course you completely **fucked** up everything again!  
You're not going to recover after that...

* * *

you... ARE SO CUTE!!!!

my roommate WARNED me that youd be funny and cute and god, she was right!

she said you had a weird sense of humor

i didnt think that she meant you were like timid and sheepish and CUTE!

i did watch some of your shows! 

i wanted to see what your humor was like

you are so much cuter to actually talk to

you seem like you're nervous and

awww

i cant believe some guy is nervous over me!!!

picked up on that did you?

if we're being real, i'm a bit nervous too...

i dont believe that

it's true!!!

i have NO idea what i'm doing!!!

really?

well then youre a natural

:B

* * *

Your heart stops, he is so cute.  
John just sent you an emoji that looks like his overbite!!!  
You have to send something!  
You've been radio silent for a few seconds now!  
You quickly scan your mind for anything to talk about.

* * *

so

what did you think of my shows?

i saw a video where you try one of every dorito chip...

and then destroy each bag for some reason?

i didnt get it, but it was really funny!

how so?

you said you liked every chip but you destroyed every bag anyway!

that made me laugh.

OH!

the funniest bit was when you started a speed-run in between one of your news shows!

then you beat it while you talked about how you hated the news!?

the whole time i was thinking "why is he doing that?!"

because it makes no sense 

that’s what makes it funny

no it did though!

you were talking about sonic and you started speed running mario

its like this old sega vs nintendo thing

it makes sense!

you like video games?

oh... i used to love all that stuff

i mean... I used to love all kinds of nerdy things and I still love 80s movies and 90's shows and stuff...

like idiot box was a really cool show

and i'm always down for wonderballs and candy like that!!!

* * *

John's got to be ten years younger than you and he's talking about the 80s like he grew up with it, not only that but he's rambling just like you do... but the difference is, he makes rambling look cute.

* * *

if i got into internet humor, i think i would have found myself watching all of your videos.

i probably would have even gotten a crush on you like my roommate did!

oh!

if you ever speak with her, don't tell her i said that.

but she LOVES you!

i get that a lot

but it means a lot more coming from you

huh?

what means a lot more coming from me?

are you talking about me potentially having a crush on you?

i mean, i do rn...

but we are dating!

so it's not embarrassing!

oh my god.... i promised that i would watch this show with my roommate

ive got to go cutie!!!

* * *

You clench your chest, John just called you 'cutie.'  
as a nickname... like you are _his _'cutie' and right after he said he has a crush on you!

* * *

k

see you later

* * *

You let John go, you can always talk to him next time you see him. But you want to talk more... but you don't want to come off as too clingy. You've got to keep up the air of being aloof and chill. Chicks fall for you all the time because of your demeanor... but maybe... maybe John could fall for you. You as you. You lightly breath out a sigh from your lips and continue rereading the messages that John just sent you- suddenly... a new one pops up.

* * *

i can't believe she's effing me over with this....

she wants me to watch YOUR show!

please don't

why not?

its one of those videos where i react to news stories

its boring as shit

awww!!!

are you not confident in it?

not really

we ended up not having the time to work in a bit that i thought would make the last story interesting

apparently it would have taken too much time to edit it in

and then wed run late

listen.

dave...

don't be hard so on yourself.

you have lots of viewers, don't you?

yeah?

you know! my friends been watching your stuff for years!

she stuck around for YEARS

you are that funny!

jade said all your new stuff is really good!

and the two of us have similar taste.

so i'm sure i'll love it if she does!!!

pluuussss...

my lenses might be a little bit tinted...

i keep seeing the face of the man i'm going to have lunch with...

it makes my heart flip around like its freaking shit!

i'm so excited to go on a date with you!!!

i am too

you are exactly my type

aw!

and i'm really sorry but i have to go!

i have to stare at a video recording of you and sigh for like fifteen straight minutes!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

:B byebye!!!

* * *

John just sent you a string of hearts... after he told you to be more confident with your projects... ha...

Your head feels dizzy and your legs are completely numb, you feel like you're drunk. Your face is flushed like you're drunk too. Shit... when you talk with him... how are you going to stop yourself from making a fool out of yourself?

. . .

You came in as early as you could. It's 2:30 and you think that John might be late, but you're fine with waiting. You just needed to make sure that you were on time. You have to prove to John that you're the man worth staying with.

Of course, you'd have competition for John and his time. You knew that he is too much of a keeper to just be running around aimlessly in New York, someone was going to snatch him up. That someone could be you... uh... maybe... you think you have a chance. You just need to hold your ground. This is something really worth fighting for. You've always wanted a real connection with someone, with some guy specifically. Of course, John could end up thinking that you're coming off to strong, or that you seem desperate. He can tell that you're actually timid, that you're honestly shy. He can probably see that you're a lowlife loser underneath it all. John's going to see it and once he does, he might just pat you on the back or maybe kiss your cheek- once he tells you he's leaving you for the other, better guy. The other dude can probably talk to John without rambling or without his palms sweating or overthinking every word or... or... Shit. You're going to lose this fight, you know it. Even if you don't... maybe he just wants you for your money? No- you can't think like that. That sounds like some stupid-ass shit that your bro wants you to think. You rest your head onto your hands and start running your fingers through your bangs, great you're sweating. Just another thing that's going to lose you points in this contest for John's attention. Of course... Of course! Of course you're sweating. Of course you have competition for the first guy you've ever gotten a date with that was worth the effort. Of course you are going to lose him.

"Dave?" You hear a familiar voice. 

You lift up your head from your hands. _‘It's three already?’_

John is standing right in front of you, his hand is on his chair. He looks at you. "Are you okay? You look stressed."

"Oh... Uh..." You try to brush it off. "I'm fine, how are you?"

John pouts at you His hand is still on his chair. John grabs onto the seat as John asks you again, "are you okay, Dave?" He sounds firm, but still… comforting.

"Well..." John is concerned about you, maybe you should tell the truth... "I am kind of... a little bit nervous about our date."

"Oh..." John sits down and jumps to grab your hand over the table. "Dave."

"I just-" You speak up again. "I really like you. And I want to impress you..."

"You are already! I love pizza, and you got us such a nice table, it's against the wall and out of the way, I love that!" John encourages you.

You smile at John. Actually smile... you feel something deep inside of you tell you that you shouldn't. It's telling you that you need to stop, but you can't care. You let your gentle smile turn into a grin and laugh. 

John laughs with you. He seems like he isn't sure why you're laughing but that he appreciates that you look happy.

"How was your day?" You ask John again, trying to break the silence between the two of you.

"Orientation- seeeucked." John joked. "Took forever and it wasn't even informative. I just know dress code and where the fuck everything is now -and we ran through it so fast, I'm sure I'm going to get lost!- and hey- don't be nervous about our date. I'm actually thinking that maybe- maybe we should like... go on two or three more. Judging you by one date isn't fair."

"I'm happy so long as you're happy, John." You tell him. 

"Aw... I really like you, Dave. I hope you know that." John confesses.

”me too... and... I really like you.. um… too…” You sheepishly confess.

Why are you acting like this? You’re already dating him. It’s time you showed the confidence you deserve to have. You need to let him know that you’re ready to be the man in his life that John wants you to be.

You continue, “not a lot of people like the real way I talk. They like this internet persona and well... I appreciate the way you, you know... encourage me. When I talk with you, I feel like I can tell you anything… and well… It’s nice to be able to be myself.”

John’s tan skin is starting to flush red. You smile at him. He gets redder.

”I-I...” John trails off. Suddenly he perks up and grabs onto the menu on his plate. “I guess I should look at the menu! Haha!!! -Oh, I can’t read this.”

You laugh. John’s so sweet. You feel like dragging him up off his feet and spinning him around. Just to make him laugh. John has such a sweet laugh. You sigh. You watch John as he reads the menu he's delicately holding in-between his fingers and you stare at him from behind your shades as John looks around the place.

There are waiters shuffling around the scene, heels clicking on a wooden floor. This place tried to have a rustic feel, but it still comes off as lavish and elegant. John sat up slightly in his chair to look at the food the waiter brought for the next table over, all you could see was little tomatoes garnishing a plate. You can't even see the meal that they ordered. It's that tiny. John looks back at you as he lightly presses his hand up to his cheek. 

"Oh wow... Oh my...” John speaks up. It sounds almost like he's nervous. “This is all… so fancy…”

"I'm sorry about that... I..." John looked up at you as you were speaking. You tried to carry on like normal, but with those ocean blue eyes on you, it isn't easy. "I was thinking about grabbing some flaming Cheetos pizza, but it's not very-"

"Whoa!” John cut you off. John instantly perks up, his eyes are shining when he asks, “they have that?!”

"Not here… but... um... I know where they do." You tell him.

John looks at you with stars in his eyes.

"You want to ditch this place and grab some?" You ask him.

"Some _real food?!_” John nods his head and happily sits up. "Uh. Yeah!?!"

“Let me grab your coat for you, cutie!" John walks behind you and grabs your jacket off of your chair. 

John helps you back into your jacket. Your date is taking the initiative here… John grabs your hand and lead you out of the bustling restaurant and down into the streets.

You happily follow him, he doesn’t even know where he's going. But you'd happily follow him anywhere.


	5. PERFECTION

This isn’t like before...

This is different... 

You've dated a lot of fuckers in your life.

You've tried just about everything in your life.

You went on dates with assholes, losers and douche-bags. 

Just so happened to escape a date with someone who was a perfect blend of all three right before you met John.

Final-fucking-ly you found someone worth the time.

When John -literally- ran into you, he referred to you as a 'poor thing.'

The words he chose to call you sparked something in you that you've been waiting years for...

John seems so kind, he told you how hard things have been for him and without even knowing you he assumed you had it just as bad, if not worse, than he did. He could tell by how you were dressed that you had cash to toss around, he could tell by the watch too. But still, John assumed that even this _well-off-stranger_ was having a horrible day and that you were just a 'poor thing' that he ran into.

When John spoke to you, you were just another stranger on the street. Your suit, your money... it didn't make him speak to you any different. So rare you meet anyone like that these days. Everyone's always talking to you like they are ready to suck you off, or they straight up get in your face and give you shit as they argue with you. Never anything different or in-between. Except for him. 

You could tell that to John, everyone is a peer, everyone is his equal. No one is above him or below him, need more people like that in this world. 

You jumped right into tossing your watch at John, you did it somewhat on impulse. But part of you must have been showing John what you could offer in a relationship, before you even offered a relationship. 

Yeah... you might not have much of a personality, but you do have money... and yet... John doesn't seem like he's looking for that. John doesn't want your cash or your watches that are fucking jacked-up-the-ass-with-diamonds... he just wants someone to spend time with, someone he can connect with.

John is looking for exactly what you are looking for yourself.

A real relationship with someone worth the time...

You aren't even sure how you can tell all of that is true about him, maybe it was the way that John wanted you to wish him luck, so much so that John just stopped running when he took his leave, turned right around, and stared at you until you sent him off with words of encouragement. Like he already cares about you enough that you... _comfort him._

John's probably just that kind to everyone he meets, he's just that kind in general... that's exactly why he's perfect.

He's perfect...

You even admit it. 

You hardly know him but you already know how gentle and kind John is.

John's flaws are even cute.... he seems scatterbrained and clearly has a horrible sense of direction. Thankfully you could make up for the traits he lacks... just like he can make up for the fact you're often miserable and tired. He'll probably just take the lead and try to show you the beauty in the world... just like he sees it. You're sure if he guides you around... you'll be able to see it too.

John seems optimistic and bright. You love that about him already.

You loved the sweet little message he sent you.

You love the sound of his voice too.

You love the way he talks.

You love that he talks to you like a person and not like a major clog in the corporate machine.

Yep. Your entire fucking life is work, and it's fucking miserable... but your personal life can finally** start.**

Right. Your work life doesn't have to be your _entire_ life.

You can leave all the stress of work at the door when you come home to John with a kiss on the cheek and a warm smile from your lover. 

He's probably looking for something like that too...

John's probably looking for something that could last.

Something that never has to end.

Something eternal...

_'JESUS...'_

You're thinking about marriage already. 

You're in over your head.

You've been thinking about your future together all day.

Shit. All of your thoughts are about John. 

You can't get him out of your head. 

Something that you're glad about. You could use the distraction.

You were tapping your fingers on your knee underneath the table, there's a discussion going on about the same thing it's always about. How you're losing clients, losing profits. 

The president is still riding your ass about changing the entire companies structure, the way things have always been done around here- and hey!- it's still **fucking **working. It's just a momentary lapse. But Pyropes still bitching about the same things she's been bitching about for a few months now. The older Strider tried cramming the same shit into your mouth and down your fucking throat too. That fucker was always giving you shit and trying to set you up with his brother, then he wore you down... and doing what Dirk told you to do was a fucking mistake.

You'd rather not think about that.

You'd rather think about... 

Your heart jumped up.

John is calling you.

Right when you read his name, you got up to step outside. 

You have to take this call.

You've got to show him that you're ready to do whatever it takes to make this work, you're ready to put time aside for him and listen to anything he has to say... anything he has to tell you...

* * *

**This has to be perfect.**

You made as many calls as you could after you finished your call with John.

You just blew off the rest of the meeting. 

That shit can fucking wait.

Pyrope can bitch at you all she wants later, you'll take the bullet.

You **have **to fucking fix this.

Somehow, John ended up meeting some guy he wants to date.

Someone who must have charmed him, some fucker must have made John laugh and- and- this isn't going to fucking help you! You keep picturing in your mind some douche-bag coming up to John and offering up 'the time of his life' -and of course the fucker would say something shitty and cliche like that too. John said that he was 'so kind' to him that he had to give this random guy he met on the street a shot. What has this guy got to be like? Why didn't John just blow this guy off!? John can see how loaded you are- what did that guy fucking say to him?! What did that guy fucking look like? Does he look like a model... or maybe the guy is actually muscular... 

Maybe... 

John _really is_ after someone with a good personality and someone who's fun to hang out with....

_'FUCK.'_

You might lose this fight... but you fucking can't.

You won't!

You are going to win this. 

John really is after something special, someone he can emotionally connect with.

That's going to be you. 

You're making sure of it.

* * *

You stayed late in your office, the janitor already walked by twice, he looks like he wants to go home for the night. Poor fucker wants to just finish his job and go home. You think you're almost ready to leave. 

Once all of the calls have been made you ring John up again, hoping that it isn't too late into the night for him. He's young so he's probably up... even though it's 2 am? Shit. You shouldn't have called. You should have just texted him in the morning like a normal person.

"Karsen?" John picks up, he doesn't sound tired. You're in the clear.

"HEY, JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW MY PLANS FOR TOMORROW."

"Ohhh!" John lightly giggled.

He sounds like he just covered up the phone, maybe John is talking to someone.

Maybe he's talking to the douchebag trying to steal him away from you.

You narrow your -already heavy- eyes at the thought. 

"Sorry!" John tells you, "I was talking to my roommate. Her -uh- laptop is too loud!"

Why do you always think the worst? Everything is okay. It's just John's roommate. _'HIS **FEMALE **ROOMMATE.'_

"IT'S FINE." You begin again, "I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU HOW TO DRESS-"

"Formal, I presume?" John said in jest. He giggled right after.

You feel your heart twist around in your chest and snap back into place.

God. You've really got a soft spot for this guy...

"I WAS THINKING... AFTER DINNER I COULD TAKE YOU OUT ON A STROLL THROUGH THE PARK-"

"AH!" John yelled. "That's perfect! That is so perfect-" He sounds like he's facing away from his phone.

You can hear John mutter to his roommate, "he's offering me a stroll through the park at night, isn't he cute!?"

John pauses for a moment, you can hear muttering. 

"Huh- oh yeah!" John starts talking to you again, "I should let you know, I have a peanut allergy!" John cheerfully says. 

With those large black-rimmed glasses of his and his messy ebony hair... his overbite... he's got a peanut allergy on top of that... _'COULD HE BE ANY CUTER?"_

John started talking to you again, "Sweetie, didn't you say that you only had an hour for dinner before?"

You had to swallow down a scream, John just called you sweetie, _'HE'S ALREADY STARTING WITH THE NICKNAMES.'_

"I MADE TIME, I REALIZED HOW IMPORTANT THIS WAS TO ME." You tell your new lover, "IT'S OUR FIRST DATE AFTER ALL."

"Right... Yeah..." John sounded like he was thinking about what you just said.

You sound positive like there will be more, you want to let him know this is something you plan to be a long-term thing. You continue on, 

"I WAS THINKING NEXT TIME YOU CAN PICK WHERE YOU WANT TO EAT, I'LL TAKE YOU OUT ANYWHERE YOU WANT TO GO-"

"Sounds like a plan." John agrees.

Your mouth is already open, it drops an inch lower. 

_'IT SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN?' _ You ask yourself.

Did John just admit that he chose you over the other guy? The guy so nice he wanted to give a-

"I was thinking about... how it's unfair to only give you both one date." John informs you.

_'SHIT.'_

"So how about we go on a few more dates... before.... I-?" John pauses.

You interrupt before he finds the words, "ANYTHING YOU WANT."

He's got to get the picture, he's in control here. He calls the shots.

"Perfect!" John cheers. "You're so understanding. I'm- I'm so glad. I've kind of been stressing out all night about this- I don't want to treat either of you unfairly."

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING," you let him know. "NOT WHEN YOU'RE DEALING WITH ME."

* * *

You were waiting in the place for John to arrive. The best you could manage is showing up ten minutes earlier, but still, you were early. 

You already hung up your coat on a rack that is placed on the mahogany wall.

You booked a small private room for dinner with John tonight.

Most of the room is just window and you really do mean that, the entire wall behind you is just a large window. It's taking up the center focus of the cozy, small room. 

You can perfectly see the night sky overlooking the lake. The moon's light is dancing on the waves.

The white tablecloth is crisp and stainless, it's perfectly contrasting your brand new gray button up you had an intern send up to your office.

You had your hair quickly styled and trimmed before you came in.

Your cologne isn't overpowering, but it does give off a distinct, wooden scent.

You're sure that you look perfect. But you keep picking at the perfectly cut roses you placed on the center of the table you intend to hand to John once he comes in.

You can already picture him coming in, his dress shoes clicking up against the pinewood floor.

You can imagine that John won't even glance at any of the scenery, just you.

You lose yourself in a fantasy of John walking up to you, lightly grazing over the dinner table like it's an after-thought. John's not interested in dining, he wants the whole mile. John wants you to swoop him up and slow dance to the light piano arrangement playing. John would easily glide around the room, and he'd _try _to show you how to dance like he does. You've never been much of a dancer, you're too stiff and rigid. Something tells you, John could loosen you up.

You hear the door handle jimmy.

When the door opens, you can see the one you've been waiting for.

Once John walks in, you stand up and adjust your jacket. 

John strolls up, wearing a loose-fitting jacket but a white button-up shirt that was so close up to his chest, you could see his waist. His waist is small and slender, but his button-up is so tight around his torso.

_'GOD DAMN.'_

Did he fucking dress this way just to seduce you? Because... fuck, it's working...

"Sorry that I'm under-dressed..." John says as the door closes shut behind him. "I- uh- well this is the nicest thing I own that you haven't already seen me in!" John awkwardly smiled and tilted his head.

"CAN I TAKE YOUR COAT?" You ask your date.

"Oh my goodness!" John genuinely says with a smile on his face.

John starts laughing as he says, "you're so forward." Okay, that was clearly a joke.

John turns around and lets you start stripping him free from his jacket, John continues, "I'm just trying to lighten the mood, I'm so nervous! There's something about you wearing such a nice suit that's really - uh- _intimidating?_ Then you offer to take my jacket and- oh!- My heart's pounding already!"

If romantic gestures like this is the way to John's heart, then the guy's heart is going to be yours by the end of the evening. 

You take John's coat and quickly but delicately place it on a rack next to your own. 

You hand John the roses on your dining table and John lightly gasps when he takes them.

He holds the bouquet close to his chest.

"No... no one's ever given me flowers before." John places the roses up to his nose, the petals must feel so soft against his nose... and his lips. 

John accidentally brushed up a flower against his slightly parted lips. Like John's about to give the roses a gentle kiss.

You watch every slight movement he makes.

Suddenly, John tenses up. "Ah-ah- ahchoo!"

John sneezes. "Oh- allergies." John lightly laughs as he sniffles his nose.

You take out your handkerchief from the back of your pants and offer it up to him.

"Oh! Now you thought of everything, didn't you!?" John cheerfully points out as he takes your handkerchief.

You want to say something in return to that, but every phrase that comes to your mind sounds desperate.

Confessing you planned this night out to a T sounds like you're coming off a bit _too_ strong. 

You're ready to admit to yourself, and **only **yourself, that you might actually be a bit desperate. 

John lightly dabs his nose, you blankly watch him. He looks a bit uncomfortable, you try to piece together why- fuck. You're staring at him as he's dabbing snot from his nose, that's fucking why. 

You're going to have to approach this like a gentleman, and gentlemen don't space out and admire their dates as they make-out with roses and blow their nose. Shit. You wish you were a normal ass person right now. 

You offer him to, "SIT... PLEASE."

John slightly jolts up and lifts up his elbows, "op! Of course! Right! Right!" He says the words like he forgot that sitting was a thing people usually do on dinner dates. In all honesty, you forgot that too. 

He sits down in his chair and you slide him in. 

John lightly giggles at the gesture, sending your mind into a frenzy.

You try to keep a level head, but thoughts of John giggling like that.. while you hold him in your arms invade your mind. 

That giggle, that sweet smile he's giving you, those ocean blue eyes too.

You can already picture him, laying down underneath you and under the sheets. Looking up at you... Laughing at you while you run your hands up and down that perfectly curved waist of his. No- you shouldn't be thinking of something like this right now. Not with those eyes on you. Those eyes brightly shining and inviting you to offer him up everything you have. 

John tilts his head at you, "aren't you gonna sit down?"

"I-" You open your mouth to speak. You think twice about confessing, but you do anyway, "I JUST COULDN'T BREAK AWAY FROM LOOKING INTO YOUR EYES."

John turns completely pink. He straightens up completely in his seat. 

John likes jokes right? maybe it's worth making one...

"NOW YOU KNOW HOW** I** FELT WHEN YOU CALLED ME 'CUTIE' OVER THE PHONE." 

You smile at John as you walk around the table and take your seat.

John starts laughing. "Oh! Tonight is just going to be you and me going back and forth with things like this! Okay! Well! I thought that you were too handsome when I first met you -and you had to go make yourself even cuter! You're going to send me to the ER, I'm damn near having a heart attack! You jerk!" John kept right on laughing. 

You open your mouth to speak but the door opened once again, 

"My goodness..." John sighs. "It's just too fancy for me.... and I didn't even notice! I didn't even see that lake til I sat down! See- you're distracting!"

You smile at his words, your heart is pounding but the tone John is taking is so friendly, makes you feel... warm.

"Ugh! It's like I didn't even notice I was **here,** in this room! I had no idea it was so fancy when I walked in, you distracted me! It's like- I take my eyes off of you for one second and suddenly I'm sitting down with another menu I just can't read!" John jokes. "This one's in french, the other was in italian. I feel like the waiter's going to have to be more of a translator than a host to us!" John covers his mouth and giggles

That makes your heart sink. He's probably talking about his last date. 

You spend the rest of the dinner going back and forth with John, even with him talking about how handsome you are and how beautiful this room is. You can't get the thought out of your head. The thought that John just went on a date with another man a few hours earlier is always in the back of your mind, with every statement he says.

You wonder if John wore that tight, tight, fitting shirt to his lunch with the other guy he's seeing. You noticed that when John first sat down, that the buttons were strained and the pieces of fabric were pulling apart just enough for you to slightly see the skin of his tan bare chest. If he wore that to his other date, your opponent is going to do everything he can to win John from you. 

Ugh. You keep thinking about who John could possibly be seeing. You think about if John used the same lines on him or if these are all tailored to you. Both thoughts hurt your heart. But you have to ignore the pain and push through it. John's heart is something you can earn. Something you can win. And well, at least John seems blown away by dinner. You're sure he's going to be fucking speechless during your walk. Yeah... you're sure of it.

* * *

"I've never been to central park before!" John lightly bounces up and down as he walks besides you. He isn't carrying the roses you gave him, he kept sneezing. You told him to toss them...

_John just scanned around the entrance as you were leaving the restaurant. You didn't know what he was looking for, that is until John found one man who looked like he was in a hurry. John quickly asked him if he was late for some dinner date._

_The man rudely replies, "yes- so I don't have time to talk-" The stranger sticks up his hand like he's blowing John off._

_You are a second away from ripping this man's whole fucking arm off._

_John interrupted him as he handed him his bouquet of roses, "take these, I'm allergic and I don't want to toss such nice roses."_

_The other man stopped in his tracks. "I-"_

_The stranger looked down at the roses with his lips parted, like he was searching for the words,_

_"Wow. You just gave me an excuse to use on my wife for why I'm late. I- can I pay you back for these?" _

_"You already are!" John tells him, "they were a gift for me but seeing that I can't keep them I kinda want them to go to someone who could make use of them!"_

_"Well, my wife's going to love these." The man tells John, "I never get her flowers anymore since I've been working nonstop. Thank you so much for this, you really are a lifesaver." _

_"Hey!" John lightly tapped the man's arm, "didn't you say you were late? You've still gotta run!"_

_"Oh- yeah!" The stranger started taking off again as he headed for the dining section, "thank you again!"_

_"Have a good night!" John waves the guy off._

_John turns to you and smiled. He lightly tilted his head and closed his eyes as he told you, "he was nice!"_

You kept right on walking over to the park. Trying hard not to zone out again, but you can't stop thinking about how kind John is to everyone he meets.

You put your hands in your coat pockets, glad that you told John to bring his own coat. It's fucking freezing out and it would take all of your will power to give up your coat if John didn't bring one tonight. Still. Picturing him wearing your coat is making your palms even more clammy. 

John continues talking, telling you, "I honestly can't believe how good dinner was! I am so full- and I've never had a steak that good before. And you were right! Getting it cooked rare was a great idea! We only just started dating and you're already giving out killer advice" -John lightly punched you with his fists- "you coy businessman, you."

"COY?" You ask him without thinking. "UH- WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?"

"Well! You've been very quiet all night..." John points out.

"JESUS." You mutter under your breath.

"I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT, JOHN." You confess to him that, "I'VE BEEN A BIT TENSE ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING."

John stops walking. You stop along with him. You turn to face him as he lightly says,

"oh... I completely understand." John nods his head like he is deep in thought as he closes his eyes peacefully shut. 

John gently lifts his head as he opens his eyes to look up at you, "let's just take this one step at a time, alright? You don't need to stress about anything. I want this to be fun for you, just like it's wonderful for me. And just so you know... You seem so... well... umm..." John looked away from you as he tries to build up the strength to say the word... "_romantic."_

Your heart doesn't skip a beat. It doesn't curl in on itself and then burst open... it just keeps beating to the beat same as before. To the beat of John's drum. 

You know... that you've got this.

* * *

You took John over to where they have horse carriages in the park. You know a simple stroll wasn't going to cut it. You needed to up the ante. 

You guided John inside the carriage by opening up the door and holding his hand as he stepped inside. 

John gasped in air, lightly but still enough that you could hear it. 

You hopped in besides John and he made sure to scoot in closer to you.

Your heart sinks just so then it could smack against your throat. Like it was bouncing up and down on a trampoline.

John lightly giggles as he takes your hand and holds it. "I put a lot of thought into what this date would be like... I didn't picture anything like this."

"IS THIS BETTER THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT?" You try your best to soften the voice your old pack a day habit gave you.

"No..." John places his head down on your shoulder, "_this_ is better..." 

You hesitate for a moment as you move in closer. You pull your head back... You don't know if you should... but you want to rest your cheek on top of his head... You decide... maybe... you should-

John speaks up again saying, "-half of my daydreams were just about how horrible this could all go- like how I could step on a grate and then just suddenly fall and dive into sewage -or what if my shirt ripped!?"

You can't picture that last thought as a bad thing.

Still, John seems nervous about your date, you can't believe that he's the one nervous about messing up right now.

You staged together the entire night just to impress him and you're sure some other guy just did the same. 

You gently leaned your head onto the top of John's. You try your best to whisper, "YOU'RE FINE..."

John softly let out a breath through his nose. You placed your hand on his arm and began to gently rub his arm. 

John continued to cuddle up to you until he decided it was time to sit up, "you didn't pay for this ride just so we could cuddle, we should at least take in the view." John lightly laughed as he turned his head towards the window on his side of the carriage. He looked out to the lake and noticed that in the dark, there were bright white lights floating on the river, illuminating the dark waves they were gliding on.

"Look at the lights!" John points out at the paper lanterns lighting up the lake besides the pavement.

You tell him, "IT'S FOR YOU."

"For me...?" John looks back at you, "you set this up for me?"

"DID YOU EXPECT ANYTHING LESS?" You ask him.

John turns his head back to look at the water and then back to you.

"I- I..." John sounds a bit taken back.

John just bit one of his nails, he looks a bit nervous. 

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET SOME DESSERT?" You ask him, hoping to ease his nerves.

"Sure!" John perks up, he starts frantically nodding. "Sure."

"Uh..." John turned his head back to look at the lights, probably on instinct. "Whe-"

John looked back at you to ask, "where?"

* * *

While you were making all those calls, you hired a catering service and had a table set up for you right besides the lake. 

You helped John out of the carriage and showed him exactly where you were planning to dine for dessert. 

You got a gelato cart to come and privately serve the two of you for the next hour, you are certain that this alone is going to impress John. Still. You had to do more than just that.

You had the walkway blocked off so no passerby could join you, it wasn't an easy feat but for the right price you can get anything in this city, for example, a cellist and a violinist on such short notice. 

The two musicians begin to play a piece as you begin to walk up to your table. 

You offer John a seat by pulling one out for him. 

John just stands on the walkway and stares at you as the carriage rolls off. 

"JOHN?" You call his name, "TAKE A SEAT."

"oh-" John swallows down a gulp of spit. 

John turns his head and he looks back at the lake to stare at the lanterns gliding above the water.

You take out your phone. You need to send a message for your next play.

"oh my... I... now, I can’t accept all of this..." John tells you as he continues to glance around the scene, taking in the sight of two people playing stringed instruments next to the lake. 

"YOU CAN." You encourage John. "YOU DESERVE IT."

You quickly text a message as John's eyes are focused on the lake and not on you.

"but- this is all- it's..." John is at a loss for words.

You walk besides him and stand by his side. 

"JOHN." You continue to stand by his side as you wrap your arm around his back so you can rub his arm. "I WANT YOU TO SEE JUST HOW MUCH I I WANT YOU- HOW I ALREADY FEEL FOR YOU. WHEN YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE INTERESTED IN ANOTHER MAN... IT MADE ME CERTAIN THAT I NEEDED TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS, JUST FOR YOU. TO SHOW YOU HOW SERIOUS I AM ABOUT THIS."

John feels tense next to you, he's still nervous.

You can understand why, you feel the same. 

"I WANT TO BE WITH YOU." You confess.

John turns to face you, he opens his mouth to speak, saying, "I- I..."

Then. It starts.

Suddenly there is a loud bang followed by the sounds of flames sizzling.

John turns his head to see the flashing golden fire work in the night sky.

It was followed instantly by five more, all of them exploding in the sky at once.

You know that such a dazzling sight will ease his mind, he's probably already comforted by the spectacle of lights all set up just to show how much you care to impress him. John doesn't have to worry about impressing you one bit. You're already blown away by him, by his kindness.

You turn your head and smile at him as he stares up at the lights.

A gold flash illuminates his perfect and gentle face. 

You feel a pleasant heat rise up in your chest and fill your face. 

You don't care at all if John catches you smiling at him.

You've already shown him so much of your heart tonight.

John is still gazing in awe at the exploding lights, lighting up the sky just for him. 

Suddenly he turns to face you, his eyes are slightly widened as he opens his mouth and shakes his head, "this- this is... I- I-"

John suddenly shouts,

"Bathroom!"

He takes off and runs in the opposite direction from the table. 

You stand there for a few moments, watching him run as the popping sounds of fireworks go off besides you. 

John is already in the distance, he's running as fast as he can to be out of your sights.

He doesn't even know his way around the area, John could get lost.

You take off after him, running past the lake and past the still exploding fireworks.

You catch up to him, finding him hunched over a waste bin. He's vomiting directly into the trash can.

You start rubbing John's back as he hurls into the trash.

He took off his glasses and he's holding it in one of his fists.

John lifts up the hand that's holding up his glasses. He looks like he's asking you for something.

John spits one last time into the trash can and then asks, "you gotta hankie?" 

You jump right into digging it out. You hand it to him, as quick as you could.

John wipes down his lips and then tells you, "I'll wash this for you. I'm so, so sorry."

"DON'T BE... I-" You ask in shock, "DID YOU GET FOOD POISONING?"

"No- this is just-" John looks behind you and back over to the lake filled with lanterns and reflecting the light from fireworks.

"It's all too much for my heart." John confesses.

"I-" You sigh and rub your palms across your face. You press the balls of your wrist bone into your closed eyes.

"I THOUGHT THIS WAS... A GOOD WAY TO IMPRESS YOU... I GUESS I CAME OFF..."

You admit it... "TOO STRONG."

John placed his hand on your shoulder.

"I was so impressed by the walk through the park! It made my heart just sore! Then... well...."

John pauses for a brief moment,

"My heart can only take so much..."

You get it. It's fragile. 

You have to do this slow.

You have to approach this with class... maybe you already thought of the right way.

"We can just... take this slow. Little-by-little." John tells you as he pinches his thumb and his index finger together to measure the very concept of little as he says, "baby steps."

"ALRIGHT." You take the handkerchief back from John. You toss it into the trash.

"LET'S DO THINGS THE RIGHT WAY." You tell him.

"Alright." John gently laughs as he smiles up at you.

You take him by the hand and guide him back over to the table. 

"WE CAN SEND THEM ALL HOME, IF YOU'D LIKE."

"Weeeeell..." John tells you in response. "I can't ever argue against eating ice cream. Oh! -and I loved that piece they were playing."

You lightly smile at his words as you walk with him, by the hand, back to your table. 

John is already back to smiling and talking about how wonderful the classical music is to his ears, even after hunching over a trash bin and tossing up all of his nerves. 

You might have given too much of your heart to him a bit too fast. 

No... you might have shown too much of your heart to him too quickly.

Seeing that smile he's wearing...

You're sure that giving him your heart is the right thing to do, but you've got to ease him into this. 


	6. Firsts

"HOME!" You yell as you open the door to your apartment.

Jade is once again sitting on your couch, she's working on her laptop as she holds a slice of pizza right above her mouth. Of course she would eat about half the box that Dave got for **you.**

You glare at her.

Jade turns her head away from the pizza slice and shrugs at you, "whaaaat?!"

Jade takes a large bite of the pizza dripping with Cheetos.

Jade talks with her mouth full of food, mumbling, "my celebrity crush bought this! I've been savoring it!"

You place your hands on your hips as you ask your roommate, "have you just been coding and eating **_my _****pizza **the _entire time_ that I was out?" 

Jade shrugged again. She's completely blowing you off.

You sit down besides her on the couch that she's been crashing on. You managed to get yourself a mattress, and still! Jade hasn't gone out once! to get anything for her room. She's just been sleeping on the couch that the two of you grabbed from the curve outside. You're basically just hanging out and sitting on Jade's bed.

"Soooooo...." Jade says after she finished swallowing her bite of flaming-hot Cheeto covered pizza. "How was your dinner daaaate?"

"Gooood." You mimicked her tone, just to spite her.

Jade completely ignored you, she jumped right into questions, 

"Did he hold your hand during the walk?! Did he drive you home!?" Jade's tone suddenly turned mischievous as she asked, "did he notice how tight your shirt is?"

You smack her arm. Jade just reacts by laughing. She grabs her laptop to make sure it doesn't fall and then continues to press you. Jade points at you and says, "look!"

You look down at your shirt, God... You had no idea that when you hunch over like this you can see so much of your skin through the fabric's holes. 

"Jesus, this guy was probably doing back-flips just to try to impress you." Jade gestures to your chest as she yells, "you can see every inch of your body in that."

Jade blows a gust of hot air out of her gut and then mutters, "I'm so fucking jealous, I could use a guy like that right now."

"Jade." You lower your eyes at her. You've had to go through to many stories of her rejecting guys who flaunt their cash. Jade just ignores you to ask,

"So- did he do backflips to impress you?” Jade mumbled as she asked. 

You sigh. You begin to unbutton the shirt you wore years ago to take Jade to prom in. You don't even take a moment to notice that you're stripping in front of her, Jades seen you topless countless times, in fact, the two of you see each other naked every other day. Jade continues to speak to you like you aren't undressing right in-front of her eyes.

"He did!" Jade cheered. "He must have! You look stressed! And look at those pit stains! John. You need a shower you fuckin' reek!" She's brutal about it.

"But only after I took off my shirt, right?" You ask Jade.

"Yeah- you're good." Jade waves you off, "your dream man probably just smelt all the cologne you drowned your pits in."

You sigh out the words, "ahhh, here's hoping."

You turn to look at her and ask, "you really think that I put too much cologne on? Do you think it smelt too strong?"

"Eh-" Jade tilted her head. "You were probably fine, he was probably to busy 'making a real- deep- connection' with you, so he probably didn't have time to notice."

"Thanks, Jade." You lower your eyes at Jade once again. You just choose to ignore the fact she's mocking you.

You grab Jade's blanket to cover up yourself, you're starting to feel a bit too cold for your liking. Jade adjusts your blanket so it covers up your legs too. After fixing your blanket, Jade clasps her hands together and asks you again, "Did he drive you back home?!"

"He hailed me a cab and paid for it." You confess to her. "I told him that I'd make it up to him- but he said... get this... okay..." You adjust in your seat and pull the blanket to turn to with you. "Karsen told me that I'd make it up to him by..." -you try to repress a scream- "getting home safe."

Jade started squealing and cheering for you. "OHHH! OH MY GOD! That is so, so, so romantic!"

You lift up your arms and break free of the blanket, "I know, right!?" 

"Tell me more- tell me everything!" Jade points at you as she demands that you inform her of, "everything in order!"

"Well- Karsen-" Jade stops you from speaking right there.

"No!" Jade yells in a friendly, but annoyed, tone. "From the start!"

You yell back at Jade, mimicking her exact tone. "I was starting from the start!" 

"You didn't tell me jack-shit about your lunch with Dave!" Jade points at you with one hand and holds her laptop steady with the other. "You just ran in and started primping yourself for your date with Karsen after you bragged about how Dave got you a pizza!"

"Huh-" You guess you didn't say anything to her about your first date **_ever _** yet. Just that you got this fucking killer pizza. "Well... Dave took me to this fancy restaurant. It was one of those places that tries to look rustic and homey but it was so ornate and like... lavish- I don't know! -Anyway! I told Dave the whole place felt too fancy, so he brought up a pizza place that was actually my speed... and then we we walked there..."

You look down at the couch as you speak to Jade, "I felt, comfortable the entire time." You tell her. "Dave and I kept going back and forth, cracking jokes and trying to make each other laugh."

You sighed, a deep but soft sigh.

You recall how you guided Dave out the door and happily held it open for him.

_"Thank you." Dave sweetly thanked you for the gesture._

_"No problem!" You grinned at your date._

_The two of you walked out of the place you just ditched and your handsome date pointed out the way._

_As the two of you walked side-by-side, you took in the sights around you. You were in awe of how beautiful the potted flowers around the neighboring building looked. _

_You hadn't even noticed that there was a moment of silence between the two of you, that was until Dave began speaking again,_

_"You look good." _

_"Better than nice, right?" You lift up your arms to show yourself off._

_Dave is staring at your chest as you slowly walk._

"OH!" Jade inturupts your retelling of your date. "Soooo... he was checking you out?"

"Shh!" You tell Jade. "Wait your turn to speak!" You continue on like Jade didn't just **rudely **interrupt your story, 

_You lightly laugh. Dave seems so nervous and awkward and its actually... making you feel more comfortable. _

_Dave feels the same way that you do. So you totally get why he randomly told you that you look nice long after meeting you again, he must zone out a lot too! That or he just wanted to remind you of how good you look. _

_"So this pizza place? What else do they have?"_

_"Mac and cheese, stuff like that..." Dave answers, "but everyone goes for the pizza."_

_"Oh? **Everyone?"** You asked him. “So, when we go there will there be like a crowd?"_

_"Even if there is." Dave tells you. "I'm sure I can get us a pie."_

_"Oooo." You sarcastically act impressed, it's just a cover to hide that you actually are truly, very, deeply impressed. "Can you get us into any place?" You ask Dave with the same tone._

_"Any where you want." Dave offers you._

_You giggle at the offer._

_Dave starts to turn red at the sound of your giggling._

_It's come full circle._

_When you finally got to the place, Dave managed to immediately get you served a large pizza the moment you walked in. Apparently the management really likes the press that Dave gave the place. You knew that he was popular and internet famous from what Jade told you. But you had no idea that Dave generated this much buzz. So much buzz that people stopped and took notice that Dave Strider was hanging out and walking around. _

_When you sat down, Dave told you that the free press he gave the place was one of the main reasons for why the place would always sit him down and hand him anything he wanted for free, like an exchange. The two of you sat down and ate Dave's favorite pizza in all of New York. _

_You horked down pretty much the entire pie alone as you told Dave about your experiences in New York and how you still don't know your way around. You didn't even notice that you pretty much ate the entire pizza on your own._

_Dave found your appetite impressive, he offered to buy you up another one for home. You immediately jumped on the chance, and then had to correct your haste and say, "please. thank you."_

_Dave didn't seem to mind your enthusiasm. _

_When the two of you parted Dave offered to walk with you back to your place, you had to be real with him and confess that you were driven because you didn't know the area. So, Dave called you an uber and once it came, Dave sent you on your way... but not before you hugged him and waved him goodbye. He's such a darling..._

You held onto your chest as you sighed. "It was so perfect." 

"What about Karsen?" Jade softly asked you.

"He's something else... he took me into a private dining room that overlooked the city and a giant lake. I thought Karsen looked so good in his suit and he got his hair cut for me. Once I took my eyes off of Karsen I noticed just how beautiful everything was.”

You told Jade about your date. How your dinner was and how you couldn't stop staring at how handsome Karsen was. You told her everything about your stroll to the park and into a horse drawn carriage. How you felt so at peace with Karsen holding you close. So at peace, in fact, you forgot about the carriage completely.

That was until the gelato and the table and the musicians and all of the fireworks...

You had to confess what you did next...

"You ran?" Jade gasped.

"I ran." You nodded.

"Oh no." Jade turned her head away from you and placed the tips of her fingers on her lips.

"Then, I threw up." You confessed.

"Oh God no." Jade tried her best to not laugh. 

"Into a trash can." You nodded.

"Oh. John... I'm so sorry." Jade let out a nervous chuckle.

"But- then Karsen chased me. He caught up to me and rubbed my back. He gave me his hankie and told me he could send everyone home. But I honestly... liked the gesture... so we ended up enjoying the rest of the night anyway."

"Wow..." Jade looked away from you. She blankly stares ahead as she says, "what a power move... that's one hell of a sugar daddy." 

"No! No!" You wave your arms around as you tell her, "he was just trying to impress me and he didn't know how!"

_You felt a bit silly ordering so many flavors, but the caterer is being paid to stand around any way. You selected quite a few and then happily sat down. Karsen seems like a simple man who knows what he likes. He only ordered chocolate. You sat down across Karsen. _

_"I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE." Karsen offered you his apologies._

_"Oh, you're alright." You let him know that he's fine. "I should be the one who's sorry."_

_"NO..." Karsen pauses for a moment. _ _"NO... I PUT ALL OF THIS TOGETHER TO IMPRESS YOU, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WAS TOO MUCH TOO FAST."_

_You smiled brightly at your date. You wanted to say something but before you could find the words Karsen spoke up again._

_"I ALREADY KNEW THAT MONEY DOESN'T IMPRESS A GUY LIKE YOU... YOU'RE SOMETHING ELSE."_

* * *

You spent the rest of the night screaming and giggling with your roommate. 

Jade was completely taken by how you could have such amazing luck with not just one but two guys...

But you feel something aching in your heart.

How are you supposed to choose?

You're not sure you can...

The two of them are already so perfect...

More perfect than you could have ever hoped...

Now you're finally laying down in your bed. Waiting for sleep to come. But it's a strain to find rest in your mind and in your bed at the moment.

You stare down at your phone. 

You're skimming through the messages that Dave and Karsen sent you, doing so helps ease your troubled mind.

Then suddenly, there's a new message.

* * *

hey

just wanted to let you know ahead of time that tomorrow isnt good for me

busy with work?

i have to drive to new jersey to shoot something

wow! are you gonna be recording stuff on the streets!?

yeah man

interviews and shit

sounds like that would take up a whole day!

it might

might just last a little over an hour

but then i have to edit it with my crew and drive back and shit

recording shit in the city never really takes that long

really?

you really think it might last an hour?

yeah

hmmm....

hm?


	7. spark

Somehow, your boyfriend convinced you to take him on a road trip.

Right then you told your crew they can drive in your van alone, you're taking your car.

If your Ferrari doesn't impress John, then none of your money will.

First things first though, you had to empty it of all the McDonald's wrappers you've got underneath the front passenger's seat and wash your car. By the time that you felt content with how your car looked it was well into the night and you crashed as soon as you got on your mattress.

Right now, you're rolling up to John's place. You just told him, over a text, that you were waiting on the curve.

You popped a cinnamon gum into your mouth and pocketed the rapper instead of just tossing it where you usually do. You can't dirty up your cup holders after you just spent the past night wiping them down and cleaning out your entire car. You chewed with your mouth open wide as you texted John a few improvised messages about how you came by a few minutes earlier than you meant to so there's no rush."

You continued to chew your gum as you looked around your car for anything out of place or dirty. Everything looks fine, you haven't even opened up your water bottle yet. 

Suddenly you hear an annoying sound, something that you're sure would bug John.

It takes only a split second for you to notice that it was coming from... you.

You spit out your gum into your wrapper and pocketed it into your red jacket.

John didn't read your message about taking his time apparently, he was already running out of his apartment complex and waving at your car. 

John opened up the door and happily bent over to cheer out "hi, Dave!" John tossed a bag into your car and then hopped in.

"Hey, babe." You smile at him.

John cheerfully offered you a hug.

As your boyfriend was holding onto you, you had to suppress a smile that was creeping onto your face. You've got to keep it cool. Gotta look laid back and chill. You can't come off too forceful or you'll just scare him off. 

Once John settled down in your car and you head out for Jersey, John himself seems completely composed and chill. And by that you mean that he looks just as happy as he usually does.

John doesn't seem that taken back by your car, part of you feels... _content_ with that.

Like John isn't after your fame or your money at all. He probably doesn't even know about the money that your family name is linked too. John's not impressed by material things like cars, he just wants some good pizza and someone chill to hang out with. John's completely your speed. Still, no matter how many times you go over it in your head. You still can't believe someone as cool as John exists and that he's into **you** of all people... well... maybe not **just** you out of _all _people. Still... John's just as good a friend as he is a boyfriend. You're going to make sure that no matter what the outcome, the two of you stay in touch. You can't let someone like him just leave your life.

John unzipped his duffel bag, looks like he's pulling out some kind of book.

"I thought in between seeing any cool landmarks!" John holds up his travel book on all the sights in New York, "I could tell you some jokes from my favorite joke book!" John pulls out a much larger book and shakes it as he shows you with a big grin on his face

You focus on the road again, he's so excited for your trip.

"Oh! And are there cows in New York?" John asks. "I know a fun driving game!"

"Uh... not here, I don't think..." You have to be honest, you don't know if they have any cattle pasture's but you're pretty sure that there aren't any on the way.

"Oh, and this trip might be like thirty minutes ." You inform John, "tops."

"Ah. I was under the impression this would be a much longer road trip." John blankly says.

You laugh like that's a joke. 

"I can still tell you my jokes right?!" John cheerfully asks.

"I'd be sad if you didn't." You nod at him.

* * *

You were waiting to meet up with your crew after thirty straight minutes of John telling you the cheesiest jokes you've heard in years. Apparently the guy loves older comedy, you didn't think that you'd like Groucho jokes but he has some bangers. Even if the jokes bombed, even if they sucked, you'd still laugh. Not to make John feel better, but because he honestly delivered each of them with such gusto and force that you had to laugh. 

John did everything in his power to entertain you for the entire drive, and damn it. It worked.

You were still waiting for Rose and the rest to show up. 

Once they did John happily introduced himself to your crew.

Rose lifted up a brow as John spoke, he told everyone how happy he was with their work and that his roommate was a huge fan for years. John even asked who Tav was, when he lifted up his hand, John offered him up a big smile and a few kind words about his work on your team, apparently Jade found the guy's work worth noting. John started listing more members of your crew and got a few chuckles out of all of them as they set up to film.

Rose leaned into your ear as she spoke, "he's not quite what I was picturing."

Rose moved slightly away from you, she took note at how John was rehearsing some jokes that he just performed for you. He was saying the things that got the biggest laughs from you on your drive here. John's jokes prompted a snort out of your camera man.

Rose leaned in again to say, "he's _much_ better." You can't tell if she's sincere about that or not. But you know she's getting a kick out of him being the guy you're so nuts for. 

John strolled over shortly after Rose pulled away from you again.

"So!" John placed his hand on his hips as he asked you and Rose, "what are you guys going to be recording today!?"

"I'm going to try to interview random people about issues." You respond.

"What kind of issues?" John asks.

"It doesn't really matter." You answer honestly. "I'll show you."

Rose lightly laughed at John's expression, he always makes faces so funny, that even Rose laughed. He really is a little comedian. 

It takes a few more moments before everyone is ready to record, but once they are you jump right into the action.

You hold up a mic to your mouth as you ask a middle-aged man walking by, "Sir, how do you feel about the reaction to the st-"

The man keeps walking off.

You just change the question, "how do you feel about Jersey?" 

The man turns to say. "Jersey's the fucking best."

You turn to face John and tell him,

"We're going to be doing the exact same thing for an hour."

* * *

You didn't lie. You spent about an hour trying to ask people on the street to answer any question about current issues and next to none of them had the time. It's a shame some did though. You're not going to include any of those interviews or their honest reactions, even if they are fans of your show. 

Still, most of the people you recorded walking by didn't stop to talk. You could see John's reactions after each person walked off. John had to cover his mouth not to laugh at all of the people walking past and yelling about how Jersey fucking rocks. Once you looked at John, he'd lose his shit. 

You called it a day and packed up shop. Rose said that she'd like to review the footage before she sent it your way, well that's not exactly what she said. Rose kind of just took the camera and walked off to the van. Everyone else followed her, even John felt compelled to move with the crowd. John lifted up a foot to join them in their little herd. John turned to you and pointed at the group of your staff walking off and you just chuckled and asked, 

"Wanna grab a bite?"

John nodded and gave you a thumbs up with the fingers that he was previously pointing with.

"Can we go to wawa?!" John happily asks.

"Wawa?" You chuckle as you ask him to clarify, maybe it's some kind of joke. "Really?"

"I've never been!" John confessed to you. "I heard is good!" 

You shrug. "Well, then I guess we're going to have to go so you can see if the hype is real or not." 

* * *

"The hoagies are fucking bomb." You tell John once you enter the joint.

You grab the spicy voodoo chips and walk up to one of the many small screens to place your order.

John went right to ooing. He quickly moved over to another one of the small screens and started looking through it.

You quickly put in your own order as John stood besides you a foot and a half away. 

You held onto your bag of chips.

"Agh!" John yelled at the screen. "That was my entire order!"

"What happened?"

"It erased my order!" John looked devastated. 

John must have taken longer than a few seconds, those screens go blank pretty fuckin' quick.

"I can help, I'm done with mine." You pocket your slip.

"What did you order, babe?" You ask him.

"I don't remember." John tells you. "-And I don't know where to find the button for the buffalo hoagies."

"Did you order one of those?"

"No. But now I want one." John told you. "They just showed it on the big screen."

"Let's start with that." You helped John figure out how to use the screens. They could be a real bitch to deal with, especially for someone who doesn't know what they already want.

You just did as John directed you to do. You knew where everything was so you put in whatever strange requests he had. John needed a moment to think about what else he wanted. He began to feel a bit stressed with selecting something as quick as he could.

You showed John, "If you just press back and forth between the menu screens, it'll give you more time."

"Oh!" John seemed impressed with that, he leaned in and asked you, "so you're the fast-food master, huh?"

"I love fast-food and delis and shit like this, I have a whole series." You tell your date as your fingers hovered over the screen.

"Ah!" John laughs. "I know! I saw your video where you went to Japan and tried chocolate covered fries!"

"You saw those? Those are like three years old now." That was back when you and your bro were still close. He went with you and even recorded that...

"I binged a few with my roommate. Jade showed me her favorites." John confessed. "She **loved** the Japan series!"

"She did, did she?" You ask John as you look down at the ground, thankfully he couldn't see your covered eyes past your tinted shades.

"Those were some of my favorites too!" John cheers you on. "So those chocolate fries were- oh-_** Are you kidding me!?"**_

You chuckle as John lost his order for the second time today. He looks like he's ready to start screaming at the screen.

You backed away and apologized, "I'm sorry, man."

"No. Don't apologize." John lifts up a hand. "We're going to beat this thing!"

"Third time's the charm." John rolled up both of his sleeves and started pressing buttons like a mad man, ordering his hoagie and a few sides for the drive home. "I'm getting those mashed potatoes and those damned pancakes!"

John couldn't help but add on a milkshake and chicken noodle soup to that order too. John seemed like he really enjoyed using the screens, despite having a hard time with them. 

"That is so cool!" John tells you, "you can just order your food and they make it for you while you shop around, I love that!"

"Yeah." You tell John, "-they are usually really fast and-"

"They are- well then we've got to get a move on!" John grabs you by the hand and over to where the candy bars are. Apparently he wanted to grab something for his roommate. 

"That's really sweet of you." You tell John as you walk over to the fridges. 

"What would be sweet is if I let her eat a snickers, but I don't trust her to not get peanuts crumbs all over the couch!" John tells you. "Oh... yeah... Uh... I'm allergic."

"Oh, cool. I'm glad you let me know." You nod. Still. John looks a bit unnerved by sharing that with you. "It's honestly fine, man... do you like... feel like it makes you a nerdy loser to tell people that?"

"Yes!" John says with a loud voice and big eyes. 

"Dude, same though... I mean like... I used to feel like a complete loser because I've never been on a second date... well till now."

"Really, you did?" John smiles at you. "I mean, you're not a loser, but- you felt that way too?"

"Yeeep." You nod. "So I feel you." You pull out a regular flavored redbull out of the fridge for John.

"Yeah..." John looks away for a moment, "I just feel like... so nerdy... with these big glasses and these buck teeth- not to mention how often I've been sneezing because my allergies have been acting up- it's like I'm a straight up stereotype."

"Man, don't worry about it." You pat John's arm and confess, "I'm like, basically lactose intolerant so it evens out."

John starts laughing at your comment like it was a joke.

John wipes a tear from his eye and hits his knee with his palm.

John sighs as he says, "I'm going to grab a red bull too, the two of us can share."

"Cool, I think I’ve got a coupon for that on my phone." You drag out your phone as you hold your chips in between your arm and your chest.

"Coupon?" John asks you as he tilts his head.

"Yeah… I've got the wawa app." You nod. Trying hard not to feel frustrated at how sweet John looks in the moment.

"The app? You really actually... like... coupons and stuff like that?" John asks you like he's surprised. "Do you... really?"

"I-Uh… You have to confess. "I used to coupon all the time, I fell into the habit of it, so I still do it sometimes... I like saving money."

"You’re so cute…"

John lifts himself up by the balls of his feet as he places his hand on your shoulder.

John kisses your cheek. 

"I just couldn’t help myself" John smiles up at you, like he's amazed at a good joke you just told.

John starts to walk off towards the register, leaving you alone with the redbull in your hand, a bag of chips in your arm and two receipts for your order in your pocket. 

"Come on!" John cheers for you to get a move on. "We've got to pay before our sandwiches come out!"

You'd be willing to take this guy out to anywhere he'd ask... and John asked for wawa.

He really is just your speed.

* * *

You rewatch the footage, ready to help edit the clips together in an order that would satisfy you and have someone else clip them down to be the perfect length.

After a while, you noticed something off. 

Something you can't put your finger on. Maybe it's the way that you're looking into the camera as you talk back to John and your crew before the temp cameraman cuts. 

You just turned your head to look back at John, he started cracking up once you looked back.

Your smile grew bigger right when he started laughing-

_Your _smile grew bigger... you never... you never smile like that on camera.

Now that you think of it... you never smile like that _ever. _

You can still hear the recording of John's laughter play.

You continue to smile at John off screen on the camera's footage.

You, yourself, listen to John's laugh. You take it in for a few moments before it's cut off. 

Something about that laugh...

That's the spark that you've been waiting for.


	8. CHANGE

Pyrope complained for a full day how you left her alone to do everything herself. You can't care. She always complains that she has to do everything herself. Every single fucking time, Pyrope just bitches that you just sit behind a desk and that your only job is talking to people about the work she does and you won’t even let her do it, yadda yadda.

"Are you listening to me?!" Terezi has been pacing back and forth and yelling the whole time, it was hard **not **to listen to her.

"YES." You muttered to her as you lay back in your chair. You're sitting at your office desk, she's standing right in front of you.

Pyrope took a moment to sigh, she slowly approached your desk.

"IT'S LUNCH." You tell Terezi, "FOR BOTH OF US- SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST HEAD OUT AND ACTUALLY EAT SOMETHING?”

"Don't _you_ lecture me on how _I'm _working myself to death." Pyrope places her hand onto your desk and lightly leans on it. She seems more tired and her anger has muted down from a burning rage to a small cinder. 

Terezi sounds tired as she tells you,"...I told our research division to make a survey for our clients, asking how they think we can improve our company..." 

"WE ALREADY HAVE A SURVEY-"

She speaks over you, "-And I sent one to Strider."

Terezi hands you a small usb drive from her pocket along with a folded up sheet, "this is what came back."

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE-"

Pyrope ignored you, "it’s worth looking at, he's is the very definition of our target demo and after you blew him off he was-"

"IF YOU SAY KIND ENOUGH TO DO IT." You blow a huge gust of air out of your gut. "THEN I'M FUCKING WALKING."

"Then walk! Your chair would be more useful in someone else’s hands regardless!"

She's going to get it now. You're ready to tear Pyrope a new one after that.

. . .

Of course. She won the argument... not like you'd ever actually admit defeat. You just tell her to leave with a shout once she brought up your height. Pyrope is a fucking monster sometimes. She knows exactly how to claw at your mind and scratch up your thoughts. Seems like she had her fill of fucking with you. "I will speak with you on a later date." Pyrope decided to take her leave.

Terezi turns to walk out of your office. As always, you stand up to get the door for her.

You hold open the door and watch Pyrope as she marches past you in her black heels, with each step she takes, she steps with pride... like she is trampling on your spine.

You shut the door and groan. At least now you can’t hear the obnoxious sound of her heels clicking against the hardwood floor.

This is the punishment you get for putting off work, Pyrope fucking breathing down your neck. At least fighting with Terezi for a full hour was fun, but you were already backed up with work, you have to prepare for your next meeting with the board that and make more plans and read through more stats. You can't even muster up the strength to groan. 

You sit down and start to file through the sheets on your desk. You roll your eyes once you look down at the USB Pyrope left behind.

You scoff at the small stick and the sheet, you lift up your hand to swipe both of the things Terezi left to insult you off of your desk and down to the floor.

Just then, you hear your phone chime.

You instantly recognize the ringtone you set because it actually sounds pleasant.

You drag out your phone and answer, "JOHN?"

“Hi! I hope this isn't a bad time, sweetie!" John happily answers, "I'm out and about, eating lunch… soooo I thought I’d call!”

"NO. NO. YOU'RE FINE." You hold onto your phone as you slide it over to your other shoulder.

You pull out a small bag of chips from your desk and pulled it apart to get it open, you make sure that John can hear. "I WAS JUST ABOUT TO START MY LUNCH TOO." 

"Oh no!" John sounds devastated. "If I would have known I would have invited you out with me! Ugh."

"I HAVE WORK I STILL HAVE TO GET TO, I CAN'T REALLY GO OUT RIGHT NOW." You confess that just to make him feel better as you grab a handful of chips.

"Aw... well, maybe in the future we can eat some place together.” John sounds like he's content with that.

"MAYBE." You nod at the thought as you chew.

You know that you can't agree to that, you have to make sure that every date with John is perfectly tailored for him. You need to make sure every experience he has with you is perfect, that he'll keep coming back for more.

"SO, HOW WAS WORK?" You ask John a simple question. Of course knowing that John's the object of **_your _**affections, John goes off. 

John jumps right to groaning about how much he's on his feet and how often he has to run back and forth between floors to deliver USBs and files and things that can just be done over emails.

"IT'S A SECURITY ISSUE." You explain.

"Heaven forbid someone steals our data on how many people hated our newest, shitty Chanel campaign.”

"CAN'T HAVE THAT." You joke. He's right about that... but you're not sure about it being shitty.

John starts snickering into the phone. "You're so cute!"

Just as your heart skips a beat, John shifts gears, "Now! How was your day, honey?"

That goes right to your heart. He’s asking how your day was like you two are already a loving couple. Shit. You fucking _are_ a loving couple.

"Uh... Karsen?” Johns asking for your attention. You have to give him a real answer. 

"ROUGH.” You admit. “BUT IT'S USUALLY LIKE THAT.”

”I bet!” John nods. “It’s pandemonium all the time on my floor, ugh. I bet yours is even worse."

"FUCK. WORKFLOWS NONSTOP... BUT I ALWAYS MAKE DO." You tell John, resisting how badly you want to confess that it's a soul-crushing nightmare that never ends. 

"wait...” John pauses, did you say something wrong. “Didn’t you say you... only have an hour when you first asked... Oh no... honey, did I make your work get backed up?”

"I HAD TO CATCH UP ON MISSED WORK... BUT I MADE IT UP TO PYROPE ALREADY. I LET HER CHEW ME OUT.”

"You mean the president, right?" John gasps, "oh no, sweetie... that must have been horrible." 

"EH...” You’re glad John can’t see you look so flustered as you rub the back of your neck. “DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.”

"How can you tell me not to worry!? Karsen, that must have been so horrible!" John sounds so worried over you, "do you think that you're okay... um... with her, I mean?”

"WE'VE WORKED TOGETHER FOR YEARS NOW, SHE'S ALWAYS CHEWING ME OUT TO VENT.”

"Always?" John sweetly asks.

You do your best to muster up a soft voice, "IT'S JUST HOW THE TWO OF US TALK." 

"Oh? umm..." The way John speaks, you can just picture him holding his hands gently in front of him as he sweetly looks at the floor. “-and she doesn't threaten to... um... fire you?”

"SHE CAN'T." You say. Then you take a moment to think about it. John must not know your standing in the career ladder. You're somewhat glad about that, not like you want to lie to him, but he might feel intimidated by you if you tell him you're the CEO.

Then again... he might like feeling a little intimidated...

You can already picture him underneath you... laying on his back on your bed, panting with his ocean blue eyes widening when he sees how big your...

_'SHIT...'_

You feel your own breath get a bit hot.

Oh- wait. Shit. John was talking, you missed what he said.

"Karsen, are you sure everything is okay with your work?" John asked.

“YEAH, IT'S FINE. PYROPE'S ALWAYS DOING SHIT TO PISS ME OFF." You want to tell him more, but John starts talking before you can even take a breath. 

“I’m sure she doesn’t mean to.” John defends someone he knows nothing about. “She's probably just stressed and under pressure. She's always running around the place... seems like a hard job." John says the words like he feels for her, you can't believe that he's sincere about that. He wouldn't say that if he knew her. Pyrope's a bitch who lives for the fucking grind.

You don’t even think, you just speak, "I KNOW PYROPE'S TRYING TO PISS ME OFF, SHE DOES SHIT LIKE CALL ME MY NICKNAME ON THE CLOCK AND-"

"Nickname? You never told me you had a nickname?" John sounds like he's beaming. 

_'SHIT'_

John's starting to get excited you can hear it in his tone, also in his giggles, "what is it!? I have to know!" 

It sounds like John is bouncing up and down, he's anticipating you tell him. You open your mouth, but you can't think of what to say to get out of telling him.

"Oh! Oh! Let me guess!" John starts listing names, "grumpy? -no that's too cute, but you _are_ cute... uh- cranky- no- moopy? uh... grouchy-"

"JOHN, JUST..." You can't believe all of the names he's listing is just calling you out for seeming as miserable as you feel. 

“Come on, honey! Tell me!” John sounds honestly excited.

You sigh, you try your best to be polite instead of shout, 'FUCK NO.'

Instead you say, "I'D RATHER NOT TELL YOU, ALRIGHT?"

You're hoping he'll just stop at hearing how tired you sound.

"Please tell me!" John lightly whines out a groan, "I'd rather call you that around the office rather than sugarhoney- and you know me with my big mouth! If I see you I'm just going to blurt out something dumb and look like either and idiot or I'd just give away we're dating!"

John seems honestly distressed that you aren't telling him your nickname. "Come on, I don't want to make an even bigger fool of myself. If I start calling you by the fun, little nickname everyone else calls you then no one will be the wiser to our little _secret office romance."_

You dwell on it for a moment, "I GUESS IT IS A SECRET, ISN'T IT...?"

You having a relationship with one of your employees would be a straight up scandal. You'd lose your job over it and everything. The thought of that made you smile. 

"Not the thing I want you to focus on!" John snapped you out of it.

"OKAY... FINE... IT'S JUST A NAME I HAD BACK IN COLLEGE."

"Alright, what is it?" John wants you to tell him.

What he wants, he's going to get...

You force yourself to confess, "KARKAT... AND..." You quickly mutter out, "IT'S WITH 'K'S INSTEAD OF 'C'S." 

"Oh. My. Fuck.” John started snorting and cackling. “That is so fucking cute!"

John's losing his goddamn mind, laughing and fighting off tears over the phone. You groan out, "LAUGH IT UP."

"Ah! haha! I'm going to be riding this high for hours. Fuck me." John wheezes again.

John just keeps on laughing and occasionally blurting out different bizarre sounds until he finally gets out what he wanted to say. "Karkat! haha!!! Like beep beep, meow!!!"

John sounds like he's straight up crying. You sigh again. 

It takes John a few moments to settle back down. At least you managed to finish your entire bag of chips in the meantime.

John asks, "how did you get**_ that_ **name?" 

"I-" You tried to speak but John just excitedly cuts you off. 

"-Is it because you're grumpy like a cat? Is it like a play on kitkat? Oh! Is it like some inside joke!?"

"IT IS JUST A STUPID NAME THAT PYR-"

"Huh?!" John sounds like he's talking with someone else for a moment, then he addresses you again. "Oh gosh, my foods here. Damn.” John sounds like he's disappointed, “I didn't expect it to come so fast!"

"IT'S ALRIGHT-" You were about to say you need to get back to work but John interrupts you again.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm going to have to talk to you later otherwise I won't bring myself to break away from chatting, and I need to eat." John snickers, "you can tell me all about how you got your name later!"

You're hoping it won't come to that, maybe if you're lucky you can distract him.

"Bye..." John snickers, **_"Karkat!"_**

You're a bit stunned at how much amusement he got out of something so simple. "Uh- BYE."

"Bye, my favorite grumpy guy!" John hangs up.

You lay back in your chair. 

You stare up at the ceiling.

You put down your phone from your ear.

You try to swallow down a frog in your throat. 

You're his favorite... grumpy... guy...

"DAMN." You place your palm over your face in a hopeless attempt to stop your face from heating up. "HE'S JUST TOO CUTE..." 

. . .

You sigh as you stifle through your busy work. You're sitting down at your desk and laying back in your chair. There's still so much you need to get done and it's been fucking hours now. You buried yourself in your work, but your thoughts returned back to John once you find a certain paper. It was the responses your target audience had to those Chanel ads your company made. John was right... it _was_ shit.

You blow steam out of your nose, you really didn't want John to find out your nickname, at all... ever. But there was something about how he whined and giggled. You can't say no to him. John already has so much power over you. Shit, John could probably get anything out of you if you were face-to-face. Looking into those blue eyes of his... shit... you're already willing to pamper him, John could milk you for everything you're worth.

Do you give out your heart so easy or is John just that good? You already know the answer to that.

You feel your heart sink into your lungs. You know that some other guy is already busting his ass to impress John the same as you. You bet the other guys not as obsessed over John as you are though...

Shit. It pains you to think of this, but you've got to face the facts and admit you are a bit nuts over John already.

You keep picturing your date over and over in your head. How John was so pleased with dinner and happy to be walking besides you to the park. You tried to keep a stone face because if you didn't, you'd just melt and break into pieces seeing that adorable big grin of his. When you got into the carriage ride, John was holding on to you, he even let you know how comfortable he was resting in your arms -and then you fucked up completely...

Thinking about it now, you tossed the poor guy into a carriage ride -something that John was probably already fucking terrified of- and then you tried to dazzle John with a fucking fireworks show made just for him, plus a bunch of other insane shit that no one in the right mind would pull on a first date. Shit, you really are nuts.

You fucking busted your ass to impress John once you heard he was seeing some other guy. Your devotion to get John to love you back freaked him out so fucking much that he puked. You're going to dial it down a few notches, for John's sake. But you were only trying to get John to see in you what you see in him.

At the moment, John's still making your head spin. Your palms are sweating, and you can't stop digging your nails into your knees just to drag your head out of the clouds. Shit, it's like you're on drugs. You never felt this way about anything, or anyone. What the fuck is wrong with you? How can you be so head over heels already? Then again... you've never met anyone like him... like John...

You let out a huge gust of air out of your lungs. You're still sweating. You need to clear your head. You stand up and decide to take a walk through the hall, maybe moving around will help.

As soon as you exit your office, you hear a high-pitched voice call to you, "Karsen?!"

You turned your head around and saw the very thing that stole your heart... and your mind apparently.

John, with a big dopey grin and a large embarrassingly cute wave called out "hi there!"

John had no shame. He had nothing holding him back from doing exactly what he wanted to do. He just ran to you.

God... you love that he's running to you.

John stepped over to meet you and once the two of you were only inches apart he happily asked, "you work on this floor!?"

"YEAH." You sounded more annoyed than pleased, probably because your nerves where already a wreck, now your nerves are completely fucked.

"Oh, I should have known!" John brushes his old question off with a cute hand wave.

You can feel sweat pooling under your collar. 

"I just didn't expect to run into you here!" John cheered. "I'm still pretty green! Um... I was told that the CEO was on this floor, and UGH- I don't want to make myself look like a fool in front of the guy." John snorts. "Think you could give me directions?"

You quickly think on your feet, "WELL... HOW ABOUT I SHOW YOU AROUND INSTEAD?" 

At that, John perked up and clasped his hands together. "Sure! Let's see if we can run into him! Oh, it's like we're on safari! How fun!" John already started walking off and talking to himself before you could even force your legs to move.

John stopped and turned around, he waved one of his arms to encourage you to move,

"Come on, Karkat!" 

You felt an arrow of pain hit your chest. John fucking called you by your nickname right outside your office.

Hearing him say that name... you don't hate it.

"Let's get a move on!" John calls for you to follow him again.

"I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU." You're wearing a pout... then you gently smile once John turns his head away from you.

. . .

John stepped on, with a cheerful beat in his steps, you began showing him through the hallway. John would stop to admire just about every piece of art or framed photograph littering the wall. Most of it was just pictures of employees on this floor, all of the decor was just to convince the investors your workplace has a good atmosphere, instead of just being an inescapable hell.

John turned to you and said, "all of these paintings are so... I don't know how to put it..."

"SHITTY?" You ask.

"Hm." John let out a brief hum. Maybe you said something wrong... but it sounded like he agreed. 

John looked at the painting in front of him once again, it was the most generic picture of a fucking mountain range you could think of, then John turned back to you and said that "it feels soulless."

Your mouth slightly parted open, like you wanted to speak. You did want to say something... but you couldn't find the words. Not that John was waiting for them, John just started walking on again like he didn't just point out how hollow the world surrounding you is. 

Due to your silence, John thought it was a better time than ever to bring up something strange, 

"Hey! You hear it's siptopia at WaWa?"

"WE DON'T EVEN HAVE WAWA IN NEW YORK, WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING ABOUT?" You ask with a surprised look on your face as you let out a nervous laugh. 

"There's a certain guy I know, and we went to WaWa in Jersey on a trip." John nods and smiles.

"DIDN'T YOU JUST START LIVING HERE, HOW DO YOU HAVE FRIENDS ALREADY?" You ask.

"Oh..." John sounds a bit nervous, "he's not really a friend..."

"YOU MEAN THE OTHER GUY WHO OFFERED YOU DINNER... TOOK YOU TO A GAS STATION…?”

You’re in luck, no way this asshole can take John from you.

"Yeah, but they have good sandwiches, you should go!" John brightly smiled. 

"YEAH. I'M NOT GOING TO JERSEY FOR A SANDWICH- DIDN'T YOU ASK FOR A TOUR?"

"Aren't we on one?" John asks with an amused look on his face, but that smile, it's filled with pride... something about that look makes electricity surge through your- you brush off the thought and attempt to brush off the feeling. John laughs to himself, like he noticed that you couldn't bring yourself to say anything to combat him. He's already got the picture, John knows he's got power over you. 

You keep walking ahead of John until you see something worth pointing out.

"LOOK." You pointed at the waterfall in the small corridor in the hallway. It was in the center of the room and just there for no fucking reason, doesn't even look good. Just a black waterfall, plain and pointless.

"Ah!" John clasped his hands together. Then he took out a penny from the wallet in the back of his pocket. He flipped it in with a smile on his face. John looked over at you, you returned John's smile with a 'bitch what are you doing' look.

John sounded confused, "weren't you asking me to make a wish?" 

"NO. I WAS POINTING OUT WHAT A DUMB-ASS FOUNTAIN IT IS."

"Dumb!? Why is it dumb?" John asked, putting a finger up to his chin.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD SOMEONE NEED A FOUNTAIN IN A HALLWAY?"

"Well, I like it." John tells you. "It feels like the only thing that seems to have any** life** on this floor."

You lightly laugh at that.

John smiles at your laughter as he says, "what? You know I'm right!?"

"ALRIGHT... BUT THEN, WHAT ABOUT ME?" You ask, "DO I LOOK DEAD TO YOU?"

"You look tired." John pats your back and then lightly laughs, "I was talking about the decor not the people, sweetie."

You smile back at John, you give him a look like you were saying 'YEAH, RIGHT.'

"Oh... are you bitter about everything?” John shook his head and started chuckling, placing his hands on his hips and walking down the corridor to the other hall. "You are such a funny guy sometimes especially for how grumpy you look!"

You followed him with a big dumb-ass smile plastered on your face.

Once you got into the other hall, your secretary started walking up to you. You waved her off before John could notice that she wanted your attention. 

You want to milk this for as long as you can, plus you don't need Megido spoiling the evening just yet.

Thankfully, she got the picture.

You continued stalking the hallway with your lover until you reach the edge of the building.

You took John up to the window, showing him just how high up the two of you were.

Somehow you just new that John would love the view, probably because he seems like he loves everything about the world. 

John gasped. "You see this every day!?" 

"YEAH." You couldn't see what was_ so_ impressive about being this high up. 

John pressed his face up to the window, lightly pushing his forehead against the sheet of glass.

You smile at the sight. John is looking over all of the street, like he's entertained with everything the world had to offer. Even the same old small things that you always overlook.

You step up to the window. John points out how small the trees look. "-and I just passed by that one on the way back from lunch! It's like twice my height!"

John points out how bright the clouds are, how the sunlight lining the clouds are just as beautiful as they are blinding. John couldn't care less about if something is painful to look at, he can't help but see the beauty in even the things you despise... like... yourself. 

John turns to look at you. There's a large peaceful smile on his face. 

You muster up all of your will power not to just peck him on the lips.

Instead you just gently ask with your gruff voice, "HAVE YOU SEEN ENOUGH?" 

"Yeah!" John changed his peaceful smile to a bright and cheerful beam. 

John kindly asked you, "can you, show me to the CEO's office, please?"

You nodded, unable to find the words to simply say yes. You walked John back to his office. Actively avoiding looking at anyone else roaming the halls out of fear of starting a conversation with someone who isn’t John.

You're starting to feel the fucking pressure, it's weighing down on your shoulders and making it harder to walk but you press on. 

John continues talking about how good his lunch break was as you guided him over to your office. "I'm amazed at just how good that sub was! I mean I heard the food is great in New York but I had no idea!"

John told you how he's been stressed getting used to his new job working as one of your employees, “-but hearing your voice... and seeing you now... that eases my mind.”

"I'M GLAD." You sigh out of your nose. You feel the same. 

You still aren't too excited about telling John you're the CEO, but when John chooses to stay with you, he's going to wonder why you put the whole thing off. John's going to ask why you never told him. You know that you can just take the papers, tell him that you'll give them to the CEO yourself, but you can't keep up that lie forever. John might find out you're the CEO through just a normal workplace conversation. You'd rather that he hears your title from you, and you're sure that John would prefer that too. It's the right thing to do... the right move to pull.

You sigh. You finally arrived. 

You grab the door handle to your office door.

"Heeey!" John takes up the tone like he's in on a little prank that you're trying to pull on him.

"YEAH?" You ask him, hesitating to open the door which clearly has a plaque that reads 'Karsen Vantas.'

John still sounds like he knows you're trying to pull a fast one on him, "I saw you come out of here!" John turned his head to read the plaque on the door. "This is your office!" 

John started smiling, grinning like he was amused at some childlike idea of you making a joke or at best that you're making a move on him. If that's what he really thinks, you're fucking glad he's smiling, and plus... John looks like he's really into it.

"JOHN." You tell John the honest truth, "...I AM THE CEO." 

"HA! Karsen you are always a riot!" John pats you on the back like you just laid a good one on him.

Maybe telling John like this is the best way to blow this thing out of the water, he seems like he's enjoying this.

John's still smiling, like this is all just a game to him.

"LOOK. I AM.” You smile like you're in on a joke that you're not telling. You try hard to suppress your grin. 

John made a laugh that sounded almost like a parrot squawk.

"Not awww!" John let you know with his smile and with a shake of his head that he wasn't buying _your shit_, but he did think it was hilarious.

"JOHN." You smile right back at him. "I CAN ACTUALLY PROVE IT." 

"Okay, go right ahead!” John gestures with his hand for you to make your next move. "Prove it!" John laughs.

You open the door to the room, holding the door open for John to enter before you. 

Before John even moved, he tilted his head looking inside like he was surprised at just how much larger your office is than he expected it to be.

The room was filled with light, pouring in from the large windows lining the walls. Usually you'd cover them up with the blinds, but today you needed the light to keep you awake. 

Once John was in you shut the door and walked ahead, passing all of your bookshelves filled with binders and business plans.

Other than the many black shelves lining the walls, there was a single chair behind the desk and nothing else.

You walk up to your large mahogany desk and walk around the other side.

John walked up to your desk, examining the clutter littering your workspace. You really wish that you didn't start stacking papers on the floor today, but you didn't exactly have a choice. John probably understands why it's a mess in here anyway. You already explained you're busy.

You're still standing behind your desk. You pulled open your top drawer and then dug out one of your business cards to hand to your lover.

John took the card between his fingers with a large smile on his face like he's enjoying a joke and awaiting it's punchline, once John looked down and read the card... his smile dropped.

John's eyes widened and he took right to blurting out, 

"I- I- SIR! I wish I would have known! I would have- acted appropriately. I just- I- since we are-"

John looked inward and spoke to himself, "my god we are..."

He snapped out of his trance and started stuttering, "Uh-Uh-"

John starts digging through his front pockets again, "I was asked to bring this to your office!"

John handed you a USB drive, he's holding it delicately between his fingers. Once you take it you can feel that it's warm and damp from John's palms. You try your best not to laugh, but the look John is giving you is so cute, you can't help but let out a light chuckle. You know he's nervous and probably scared, you shouldn't find this funny.

You attempt to muster up a soft tone with your gruff voice,

"YOU WERE PROBABLY ASKED TO HAND THIS TO MY SECRETARY." 

"Darn it." John punched his fist to his forehead. "I fucked up."

How can he just say something so cute and then curse like that? Why even say darn it?

You try your best to keep your screaming internal, stuff those screams back into your heart where it belongs.

The both of you are still standing, and hovering around your desk. 

John sighed. "Damn, I bet I was supposed to run back down- I just- I got so sidetracked seeing you."

"I'VE GOT YOU COVERED." You tilt your head and pay John a gentle smile for his troubles.

"Duh!" John gestures to you like you're missing something obvious. "You're like- like- the head hancho around here! and I'm- holy shit... that's how you got me this job?!"

"HEY, YOU ALREADY GOT AN INTERVIEW-" You encourage him. "THAT'S PRETTY MUCH GETTING THE JOB, AND YOU DID THAT ON YOUR OWN. I DIDN'T GIVE YOU YOUR JOB, I JUST GAVE AN EXCUSE FOR WHY YOU WERE LATE."

"-and now I have to use that excuse again, I was hanging out with the freaking CEO." John seems more stressed than impressed. 

You come up with the first thing you thought of on the spot. "ACTUALLY-" You bend down to the ground and find the sheet that Pyrope shoved in your face earlier. "IT'S NOT AN EXCUSE IF I ASK YOU QUESTIONS." 

"Wait... what sort of questions?" John asked. 

You read off the sheet. You have to rephrase the question as you read it off the sheet to fit something that made sense, "WHAT SERVICES DO YOU FEEL LIKE WE AREN'T OFFERING OUR CLIENTS?"

"Oh!" John perked up, he still seems tensed but excited with the question you asked. "I noticed you don't offer anything for digital ads! Why is that, honey?" John asked you directly.

You pull something out of your ass, "AD BLOCKER."

"Oh!" John laughed. "You're kind of right about that... There's a lot of ways to get around ads..."

John then places a finger on his chin, "still... I always see commercials on hulu. But then again... I'll be honest, I don't really watch Youtube and stuff like that... but my roommate does."

"WHAT'S YOUR ROOMMATE LIKE?" You ask without thinking.

"Shouldn't we get back to the survey?" John smiles at you, with a smug look. He knows you're already jealous

John stunned you into silence. 

John closed his eyes, you could tell he was rolling them underneath his lids,

"She's a girl, and she's basically like my sister."

"AH. I REMEMBER YOU SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT HER..." You place your hand on your desk, leaning on it to hold you up as you cough into your hand. "AND IS SHE YOUR ONLY ROOMMATE?"

John nods, he looks like he's got a devious thought in his head.

"So you're the jealous type?" John pointed out the obvious, "that's so cute, especially coming from my favorite grumpy gu-"

"SO-" You cut John off. John giggles in response. "BACK TO THE SURVEY." 

John started laughing instead of simply tittering at you.

John gave you a gesture with one of his hands, "alright, ask away."

You skim as quickly as you can through the questions he can't answer... pricing, customer satisfaction, next to all of it is data collecting on your clients, John can't give you any input on that. You skim till you find a suitable question. 

You read off the sheet as quickly as you can so you don't waste any more of John's time, "WHAT DO YOU THINK WE COULD DO TO IMPROVE OUR SERVICES TO OUR FUTURE CLIENTS?"

"Well..." John put a finger up to his cheek and rubbed it, "I noticed that all of your ads are like love stories, or something kind of... cute like that."

John pauses for a moment. "I talked with some of the people working here about why that was, they told me that the CEO is really -there words not mine- _anal about that shit_." John chuckled. "I guess I know from experience now that you're a hopeless romantic!" 

You make a face, John laughs, like he can tell you're covering up your feelings with a pout. Hopeless is an understatement, you tossed so much fucking cash at John you know you come off as _desperate. _

"Well- Everyone I work with seems to think we should branch out more! Try something new! I like that every commercial is like a little movie! -but I think we should turn away from family stuff and romance, and focus on making things funny!"

"IF I HAD A NICKEL..." You grumble. 

"Oh- come on, sweetie!" John places his hands on your desk. "It would be a different change of pace and I think everyone here could use that."

John might have a point with that. 

"I hardly ever watch TV or anything like that- so the only commercials I ever see are the one's my best friend shows me cause she thinks they're funny. No one's gonna show their friends a sappy 30 second love story..." John mutters to himself, "excluding that one Folgers commercial." 

John jumped back on track, "anyway! A lot of the people I meet on my floor tell me how burnt out they feel, and I bet that you do too! Maybe just try to do something different. You can still make it romantic _**and **_funny!"

You sigh out of your nose, before you can even speak John is on to his next point.

"I really want you to put some thought into it. I'm sure that where you're standing you feel like you can keep doing the same things and keep getting the same results, but people here are getting tired of doing the same things- and audiences get tired of seeing the same stuff again-and-again. Just switch it up a bit."

John smiles at you and shakes his head slightly, " 's all I ask."

You look away from him, he asked you directly.

You let a sigh escape your lips and try hard not to roll your eyes.

. . .

John opened the door to leave. He happily waved you goodbye and continued sweetly laughing and giggling to himself. Once John stepped out of the room he held open the door for someone else to step in. The soft and bright sounds of his giggle's ceased and were replaced with the sound of heels clicking against the floor and a cane tapping the hardwood. 

You sat down in your desk chair. Pyrope stepped in and John lightly shut the door.

You could tell by Pyrope's pout that she was set back by what just happened. 

Some bubbly young employee that you selected to work for you, with no previous experience... just walked out of your office giggling.

You can't bring yourself to feel anything about the fucking stupid ass look she's giving you. You don't see a point in getting worked up and angry, you're too tired for that today.

Instead, you just sigh again and bring yourself to say, "PRYOPE, YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT."

"About?" She asks, slightly tilting her head as she holds onto her probing cane. 

"MAYBE WE SHOULD BRANCH OUT. TRY SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT."

"Different how?" You know Pyrope very well over the years of working with her, you can tell she's a bit stunned by how gentle your tone must seem.

"NEXT ADVERT WE DO, I STILL WANT IT TO BE ABOUT WHAT I ORIGINALLY SUGGESTED... BUT INSTEAD OF IT JUST BEING A LOVE STORY... IT SHOULD BE..." You sigh, "COMEDIC."

"Hmmm." Pyrope hums as she taps her fingers against her red and white cane. 

You can tell that she's thinking long and hard over something, she pauses.

Pyrope nods her head lightly and replies as softly as her gruff voice can muster, 

"I can work with that."


	9. Games

You got home after another long day at work. Once you got back home you stripped yourself of your socks and shoes and settled down on your roomie's couch, crossing your legs and sitting like you always do, like a damn fool. Looks like Jade isn't home for some reason. You sigh, feeling a tab bit lonely in the empty room. You decide to drag out your phone and send a little text to your boyfriend, well... one of your boyfriends. You simply said "just got home! don't work yourself too hard, okay! <3" 

You didn't get a reply, you imagine Karkat must be busy, that or asleep at his desk. You guess you knew after your first date that Karsen was _well-off, _but for some reason you got the thought in your head he might have inherited the cash. While you were talking today, he confessed that a bit after college _he got big money._ Guess it was because of your history with Jade and how she sometimes doesn't understand the real value of money. Karsen taking you on such an elaborate date to get your attention felt similar to your experiences with her. 

Even so, you honestly should have put two-and-two together after seeing Karsen on the top floor of your office building... or after noticing that Karsen had weight to through around at your work.

You've been staring at your phone for a while now, just zoning out thinking about your favorite grumpy guy.

Yep. Still no reply from him.

You take a moment and stare at his contact info. You tilt your head and once the thought pops in your head it doesn't take another second for you to change his contact name to karkat (Sparkling Heart )

You smile at how cute it looks and then you decide to try again with someone just as special to you.

* * *

hi, cutie!!!

hey

* * *

You were happy to get such a fast reply.  
You sat up straight on your couch and then immediately slouched over, staring directly down at your phone.

* * *

how was your day!?

eh its fine

just a little annoyed rn

everyones hogging up all the screens in my place

but forget about it

its not a big deal

how was work?

work was work, but now i want to hear about your day!

you sound upset

its just like

i dont know

i cant free up a screen in my own house cause everyone else is on em

but its cool

they all have work they need to get done like asap

so ill just hold off on doing this thing even longer 

its not even important

well, what is it you needed a screen for?

ok 

so i said id review this game and make a video on it a few months ago

but i havent even booted it up yet

what game is it?

its like a fighting game

i dont know if youre into those

ugh, bet i've played it.

but i'm not that good at those kinds of games...

my roomie has like every game ever!

really?

maybe we should meet up and talk about it

i can treat you to dinner later tonight if you want

instead of later can it be now?

i am like crazy BORED

sure thing

ill pick you up right now

let me know when your close

can do!

<3

* * *

"I'm not sure if he's my main or not." You swallow down a bite of food and continue to explain, "I like playing as like three other characters just as much!"

"Wow. You really do know a lot about this game." Dave nodded. He sounded impressed with you.

The two of you were sitting down at a table outside and between a few shrubs, Dave seemed happy to be out of plain view.

The two of you have been in this corner for a long while, you were both just picking at your plates now.

"Alright! So..." You pick back up where you left off. "I used to play games _all _of the time with my best friend, then she got all serious about engineering and then I had no one left to play games with... cause I guess um... that I'm kind of a... you know... low-life." You shrugged and gave Dave and awkward smile.

"Dude." Dave slowly nodded his head. "Me too, man."

"Huh?" You felt a a bit of a shock go down your spine. "But you're like... a big famous influencer!? What do you mean!?"

"Yeah..." Dave let out a brief and quick sigh, "but everyone I talk to just talks about my work... they don't ever really talk to me about _me."_

Dave takes a brief pause, he wipes a few crumbs from his palms as he says, "feels like no one really knows me as myself..."

"Well then," you give Dave a smile. "I'm really happy that we met... cause I feel the same."

Dave slightly tilted his head on impulse as he asked, "how about your roommate?" 

"Jade's been with me since we were kids, so she feels more like family than a friend." You're not sure how you can even explain it, but you honestly think of Jade as a sister. 

"I guess I have something like that too." Dave looks to the side. "My bro's been trying to get me to come out of my shell a bit- but I'm still not a big people person... I can't believe I got a boyfriend before like getting a real friend-friend.

You lean forward as you ask, "don't you have people living in your house? Aren't you friends with_ them?" _

"Yeah... well... not really. I just... work with them." Dave looks away from you, he's still wearing his signature shades but you can tell he's looking down at nothing, lost in thought. "It really sucks, you know? Like I early today I felt so excited just to get out of my house because it makes me feel so uncomfortable to be in there. I feel like I'm a stranger in my own home... the guys I work with invite their own friends over to have lunch and I'd just be hanging out like I don't belong there... I just wished my home felt... like- I don't know..."

Dave trailed off, so you finish his statement for him, "a home?"

"Yeah." Dave nodded. He brought himself to look back up at you again.

"I know how you feel." You sigh and build up the nerve to continue, "I used to feel cripplingly shy... everyone I met gave me a hard time for being... well, you know... cheesy or... uh- you know how I am." You blow it off with a gesture.

Dave interrupts you to suggest, "cute?"

You blow air through your lips, "pfft."

You point your finger at Dave, telling him exactly what you meant, "I meant dorky, but cute works too!"

You watch Dave gently laugh at your little joke.

You wait for him to stop chuckling and then continue speaking in a soft, gentle tone, "...one day I woke up, and I just thought _'fuck it. I don't care if people like me or not, I'm just gonna be me._' -I just kept doing my own thing, met about bunch of new people, made more friends... and all the friends I made came and went... I was always very close to Jade though, and everything else fell through the cracks... but the most important things stayed."

Dave says, "I hope I'm one of those things."

Dave pulls his head back a bit, he seemed surprised with what he just said. Like he voiced something without thinking.

You smile at him, letting him know it's alright. "I hope so too."

"Hey..." You look up at the slowly darkening sky and say, "Since you can't get anyone to let you use a screen at your place... hows about you come and try one of mine?"

"...a- really?" Dave sounds surprised.

"Yeah!" You nod, with your eyes focused on a red-tinted cloud above you. "My bestie has like... every fighting game on her laptop, and she's not even home right now..."

You bring yourself to look back down at Dave's shades again, "we're like completely free to do whatever."

Dave had to take a moment to collect himself, he's been staring at you with his mouth parted open for a while now.

Dave brings himself to say, "yeah... uh... cool."

* * *

Dave looks stunned, you can feel his gaze hit your hands, "how are you _this _good, man!?" 

"I've had a lot of practice." You smile as you turn to look at him, "a lot of late nights alone."

Dave laughs as you snicker at your own stupid joke, you're already getting a good feel for his sense of humor. You noticed that the guy loves jokes that sound erotic for some reason, and you know from those videos that Jade made you watch that Dave loves drawing dicks and balls on everything he can get his hands on, it's like crudely drawn dicks are his signature! 

The two of you are sitting down on your living room couch. You're both holding your own wireless-controllers, playing that fighting game Dave wanted to try out on Jade's laptop. You set up a few boxes just so the screen was at eye level with you... and only you. You know that you're shorter than average but Dave is _mad_ tall in general.

You continue playing a few more rounds against your boyfriend. You're glad Dave's calmed down, the moment you got to your door Dave turned red and started shaking. You held his hand to let him know it's alright- it only made him tremble more. 

You just bested Dave again! It feels so exciting to win! You let out a little cheer, "I did it!"

"Ha." Dave seemed amused you were so pumped about winning, he smiled at you and rested his arm on the couch behind him before he trailed off in thought. "You're like so good and you got so excited at demolishing me. Uh... I mean, can you imagine a fuckin' pro at this game just acting all cute and cheering for himself after a match in like a stadium? Only you could do something so humiliating and brutal and then do something so devastatingly cute right after..." 

You laugh and rush to cover your mouth with your palm to stop yourself from laughing hard enough to snort.

Dave's such a sweet little weirdo! He says the nicest things in the strangest ways! You really like that about him.

You shake your head as you quietly say, "no, that's not true at all!"

"No?" Dave asks you as he scrolls through the character select screen, "shit, man... you're too modest."

You instantly correct him, "I'm not that good... not like Jade, I mean."

Dave ignores the screen in favor of turning to look right at you. "You like, landed every combo."

You rub the back of your neck. You're starting to feel a bit tense with the whole... Dave undeservingly praising you thing that's going on here,

"Yeah... but I don't think I'm like... you know.... as good as you say." 

Dave settles into the couch and asks, "you honestly think you're like... not good at this game, man?"

You lightly laugh and then shake your head no.

Dave responds by placing his hand on your shoulder, "just 'cause you're like... not at a perfect pro-level with this game, doesn't mean you suck."

"I..." You take a moment to think if your next words will come out as rude or not. You decided they don't, "I guess I'm better than most... uh-" You think the words did come off a little rude. "-maybe... I don't know." 

"I think you fuckin' dominated, man." Dave patted your shoulder, "killed it. I didn't win once, and I hardly ever landed a hit on you."

You lightly laugh and hum at the same time. "I guess that's true."

"You should really give yourself more credit." Dave started rubbing your shoulder instead of patting it, "you're amazing."

You turn to Dave and smile at him slightly, he's so kind to you.

You really didn't want to show him your more insecure side but you guess that you can already see Dave's not the most confident guy either...

You keep covering your face, unsure of how to take Dave's praise. 

Dave looks at you through his tinted shades as he says, "you're the closest thing to perfect I ever saw."

Your slight smile turns into a bright one. That was Dave's killing blow.

You can't resist dropping your controller and wrapping your arms around Dave.

You feel heat rise to your face, you can't help but rub your face into Dave's chest as you ask, "you really think I'm that good!?"

"Yea-uh- ye-yea-yes...?" Dave let out an awkward puff of air from his gut, you think it was a laugh? That or maybe you're hugging him to tight. 

You pull away and smile a huge, bright grin at the world's cutest nervous wreck. "You are _soooo_ sweet, cutie!"

Dave paused for a moment and then looked away from you, "a- thank you."

You can see that Dave's cheeks flushed completely red.

You guess he must like seeing you happy!

You smile even brighter as Dave silently stares at you.

You smile so hard that your lids shut close, you can't even see how red Dave looks. 

You force your lips closed, restraining your smile so you could open your eyes, you want to see this!

Dave is completely red and flushed over complementing you.

You can't believe that a guy so cute and freaking heart-throbbing handsome is this mousy around you!

On camera, Dave is so cool and chill. On his show, he acts just like the kind of loner guys that you always wanted to be with back in high school.

Ha! Back then you fell for just about every boy you met, but Dave's got such a sweet demeanor! He could send all of your past crushes packing! 

"You know..." You smiled softly at him and then laughed. "You're pretty good too."

Dave smiled as he tried to collect himself, "I don't know about that."

You shake your head. "I just have a lot of practice. So... it's impressive that you did land a few hits on me."

"Oh?" Dave settles down from red to pink as he laughs, "you're _all_ confident now?"

"I don't know..." You smile at Dave, "seeing a guy as successful as you turn so red so fast over me, just... makes me feel like I..." You laugh like the words you're going to say are cheesy and stupid, because they are and you know it... "I can say anything to you about myself and you wouldn't see it as bragging or rude... just me _appreciating_ me."

"I-" Dave tries his best not to turn red again, instead, his forehead just starts sweating, "I feel the same."

You smile at him, "I'm glad! That should be like our thing!" You are quick to clarify, "that we're always open with each other!"

"I'm down with that." Dave nodded, still struggling to not turn red again.

You try to help him by ignoring how he's starting to tremble. 

You start talking so Dave doesn't have to -hopefully Dave will find the inner strength to stop shaking in the meantime- "I really loved playing with you, I haven't had a player-2 in so long that I'm starting to get rusty! You're so much fun to talk to too!" You chuckle. "You actually seem like you enjoy hearing me ramble on-and-on about basically nothing! Hey! You can stop by anytime you like and hang out, provided you make sure I'm home first, I work weird hours... but let me tell you, this was just the pick me up I needed after all that!"

You let Dave know, "I'd love to have another game day like this with you, honey! It was so much fun!"

Dave nodded. Poor thing hardly knocked down a shade of red.

Dave brought himself to sound chill, at least, as he said, "Sure..."

Dave starts talking in a quiet tone, like he's thinking out-loud. "I need more practice... I guess I can get another laptop and hide it so no one else can hog it."

"No!" You start lightly laughing and then gently smack Dave's arm. "Don't do that!"

Dave laughs nervously as he looks back at you, you're sure it's only because you're still giggling. "Why not?" 

You tell him, "if you get yourself a pc to play games on, I won't have a real excuse to invite you over after work!"

Dave forces his lips together, trying hard not to smile and even harder to stop shaking. 

Dave lightly shakes his head to the side, "if I get another laptop... I'm sure someone would find it and just use it for work anyway... maybe I should hold off."

You smile up at him and quietly laugh._ "Oh nooo... looks like you're stuck with me!"_

You start hopelessly giggling.

Dave schooches close to you in response. You instantly move right next to him and rest your head on his chest again.

Dave holds onto you. After a few moments, he stops trembling. 

Dave strokes your back, softly letting out a sigh. It sounds like he's comfortable with you laying in his arms. 

You smile, feeling your heartbeat race. 

You can hear Dave's heartbeat too. Sounds like he's on the verge of a heart attack.

Reminds you of someone else you know. You softly sigh at the thought.

. . .

It's been almost a full hour now, Dave hasn't moved since you rested your head on his chest. You hadn't cared to either.

Suddenly, Dave's phone buzzes. He looks down at his screen, Dave quickly glances over the text he just got.

You don't care to glance at it, it's his phone. It's his business.

Dave sighs. "I guess it's time to go..." 

You pull away from him and sit up as you say, "let me walk you to the door."

"Thanks..." Dave pays you a half-smile for your kindness.

You say your goodbyes, making sure to walk Dave over to the door and hugging him before the two of you part.

You watch him walk down the hall. Daves sighing as he gets into the elevator. Dave turned to give you a weak little wave. 

You gave him a big grin in return. 

You're starting to think that Dave, _the cool, chill __influencer_ ,is even more shy than you used to be as a kid! 

_'He's such a funny guy.'_

You walk back into your place, locking the door behind you.

As soon as you settle back down on the couch you hear the door unlock.

You turn your head and see your best friend come in. 

"Home!" Jade walked in with bags filled with junk that she must have thought she needed. "I went shopping. I know I should have texted I was out so late -but I had my hands full!"

Jade forces all of the bags onto the kitchen counter right next to the living room. "Had to stop at like ten places-_ Heeey...."_

Jade noticed that you had two controllers out. Jade gives you a sly smile. _"Did you set this up so we could play?"_

"Huh?" You looked over at the laptop and then back at her, "no- I just put this out because one of my two favorite guys came over!"

Jade paused for a moment. 

Actually... way longer than a moment. 

Jade slowly came back into reality, dazed out as she ask you, "which one?"

You happily say, "the one you like." 

"So... Dave was here...?" Jade still sounds like she's having an out of body experience. 

You sound so gleeful you almost sing the word, "yes."

"Strider?" Jade wants you to clarify. 

"No, an unrelated Dave." You laugh.

Jade's not listening to you anyway. "Just... woooow...." Jade retreated back into her own head. She seemed lost in some thought.

You try to snap her out of it by patting the couch and gesturing for her to sit next to you.

Jade blankly stared at nothing as she took a seat and then turned to look at you. 

Her eyes slowly came into focus.

Jade started nodding like she was impressed. 

You nodded back at her, just to mimic the action. Smiling like an idiot. 

"The two of you just..." Jade made a fist and stuck three fingers inside of it, pulling the fingers in-and-out in a vulgar gesture. "On my couch."

"NO!" You screeched in shock. 

"Oh so..." Jade switched her fist over to the other one and stuck out two fingers- no wait- one finger and started micking the same gesture. 

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Jade!" You toss a pillow from the spot behind you at her head. "AND STOP MOCKING ME!"

Jade catches it "What!?"

Jade smacked your shoulder with the back of her hand. "You're telling me that you didn't just get pounded by Dave on my couch or vise-versa!?"

"I-" You huff and then cross your arms, "I'm not that kind of guy! You know that!"

What is she thinking!? You haven't even dated him for a month!

Jade is smiling like she's thrilled with the train of thought she's having. "But you said you invited him over!?" 

"Yeah!" You lift up a hand as you explain, "-to play games!" 

"Okay, but if I were Dave I'd definitely think I was gonna get some if you'd tell me, 'lets go to my place and play some games! tehehe!' -and don't act like you aren't cutsie like that!"

"Well I didn't invite him over like **_that!" _**You feel like screaming but you just groan instead.

"Then how did you invite him over? Was it super casual or did you say something like 'my roomie is out, no one will bug us?'...?"

You look away from her. You mumble "Shit."

"OH MY GOD! You just baited and switched, Dave. Strider." Jade sounded devastated but rejoiceful. She's fanning her face like it's burning hot. 

"I'm a very** literal** person!" You don't know why you need to explain this to Jade. "I MEAN WHAT I SAY!"

"WELL NOW... HE KNOWS!" Jade started howling and losing her mind. 

"UGH!" You bury your head into your hands. "He totally thought that didn't he...? That's why he turned so red when we got to the door..."

"HE TURNED RED!?" Jade somehow got even louder. "LIKE RED-RED!?"

"Jade!" You try to silence her. "We have neighbors!" 

"You tell me that Dave mother-freaking Strider step foot in_ my home_ -with the thought in his head that he was going to get sucked and fucked on _my bed_\- and then you dare me to keep quiet. You are a cruel, cruel man. And you tease not just _his_ cock, _but another guys too."_

"UGH!" You almost scream as you groan. "DON'T START WITH THAT!"

Jade scoffs, "didn't you just tell _me_ to shut up?"

"I DON'T SEE YOU DOING IT!" You cry.

"Listen!" Jade pointed at you. "You have the chance of a lifetime! Banging Dave Strider and-"

You bury your face into your palms and stifle your screaming with your hands. 

"AND!" Jade shouts over your screams, "AND HE'S **COOL** WITH YOU SEEING ANOTHER DUDE!? IF I WERE YOU, I'D PICK** HIM."**

You pull yourself out of your childish screams to tell her, "-But Karkat is so sweet!"

Jade placed a hand on her chest. "Oh my god, you already have a nickname for him... awww." 

You don't understand her sometimes...

You sigh and ask her, "can we just like calm down for a moment, please. -I mean the two of us. Not just you?"

"Sure." Jade nodded. "I'm too tired to keep this up anyway. You'll have to tell me the tail of how you coxed Dave into coming into our apartment some other time."

"Dave just came over because he wanted to-"

"OP!" Jade put up a finger to stop you from talking, "some. other. time!"

Jade mumbled, "I'm going to be living my dreams through you like I'm a pageant mom, and I don't have the energy today."

You chuckle as the two of your both settle into your couch. 

You pick up both of the controllers and you shake one, with a simple gesture asking her if she'd like to play.

. . .

That little boost of confidence that Dave gave you just got washed away, or rather plumbed away.

Jade just destroyed you and she was hardly paying attention, she started asking you questions about your day, at least it's not any more questions about how good Dave was or which characters he picked or how long he held you on the couch for.

Jade casually asks you, "so how was work?"

"SHH!" You quickly tried to silence her. Desperately mashing the kick buttons to try to start a combo, Jade's avatar just shrugged off the attacks like they were slaps. That does it, you're cheesing your long-range moves.

Jade started laughing as you do. She continued talking, "-so how are things going with- what was that nickname you gave him?"

"Who, Karkat?" You ask, "that was his nickname before he met me."

"Yeah!" Jade's acting like she didn't just punch your character out of the ring. "So did you talk with him today?"

"Yep." You sigh, trying to ignore yet another brutal defeat. "He actually confessed something to me today?"

"His undying love?" Jade asked. "No wait- he already made that clear with the Freaking Fireworks show."

You roll your eyes as Jade chuckles at her half-attempt at a joke.

Jade asks, "what'd he confess?"

"He's the CEO." You admit.

Jade schooed to the edge of the couch, she leaned down so she could get a better look at your face, you felt like turning away.

Jade lost all interest in the game. She's solely focused on you.

"Fucking no way." Jade didn't sound like she was processing what you just told her, she sounded pissed. "I should have guessed... why didn't I realize that...?"

Before you could tell her it's no big deal, Jade pointed at you. "Listen. If he starts to give you trouble-"

"He won't." You let out the hot air from your lungs.

"If. He does." Jade started up again. "Don't be afraid to toss my grandpa's name out there. He won't try anything if you tell him you've got someone like my grandpa looking out for you."

You lift up both of your hands and ask her, "what do you think he's going to do?! Huh?"

"John. He's the CEO, right?"

"Right?" You shrug. "So?"

"So! _John!_ You don't think that dating your boss's boss's boss is a bad fucking idea!?" Jade starts talking with her hands, "what if he holds this over you!? What if he was planning on that!?" 

You groan. "Listen! Karsen asked me out before he knew I was going to be working underneath him!"

Jade tosses up her hands as she raises her voice, "what if he tells you to _work underneath_ him or you lose your job?!"

"What the fuck, Jade!? You think I would be so stupid I'd date a guy like that!?" You feel like screaming into your palms again. "He's a good guy, Jade!"

"Good to you!" Jade pointed her finger at you. "John! You know how you look- and I know how guys think, how they talk! Honestly! Just think about this-"

"I have thought about it!" You tell her. "I know that he's a good guy!"

"John! He was desperately flashing his cash at you, probably trying to get you to-"

You cut her off instantly, "he's just desperate to have someone to connect with." You tell her. "I can tell how lonely he is."

"And what if you want to be with Dave and not him!?" Jade sounds like she's trying to hold herself back from screaming at you, "what if you don't pick this guy? You think he's going to let you keep your job?"

"I- He wouldn't be so petty!" You point your finger at her. 

"How can you be sure!?" Jade lifts up her hands and groans. "You hardly know him!"

"Jade." You give her a look. "It's fine."

"Yeah it is." Jade settles down again and returns your gaze, "you tell him that Jake Harley thinks of you as family. Show him a picture of the three of us together. That'll shut him up if he tries to goat you."

"I'm trying to tell you, that He Won't." You try to stay calm, fighting with her won't make her feel more confident, only worry her more. "Karkat is a sweet guy, he's just looking for a friend more than even a lover. I think he just doesn't understand how to connect with me and all that showy romantic stuff was his way of trying. I just... I think he's out of touch with the world. He's never given me a feeling like he's after me for my looks, and neither has Dave. They both seem like they like how... you know... cutesie I am."

Jade shrugged, looking over at the other side of the room. "I guess you are like... obnoxiously optimistic... everyone can see _that._"

"I think Karsen could use that." You smile at her softly.

Jade looks back to you, she quietly says, "I just want you to be safe."

"I know that I am."

"Good." Jade nodded. 

Jade leaned back into the sofa and cracked her knuckles. "That also means that you're ready for the talk-"

"I've already had it."

"-the way your dad couldn't give you." Jade gave you a smug look. "About how to do... _certain things."_

You stand up. "Oh look at that, it's late."

You start walking to your room. "I'm tired... you're tired..."

You walk into your bedroom and shut the door, "I think we should call it a night."

Jade's still sitting on the couch, smiling at you with pride in her eyes and a shit-eating grin, "you can put this off as long as you'd like..._ but sooner than later-"_

You cut her off with an aggressively happy, "goodnight!" You shut your door.

You sigh. More than ready to end the day and settle into bed... but something just doesn't feel right about turning in just yet.

Like you're waiting on something. 

You look down at your phone. Looks like you got a message from Dave, good. You were thinking about messaging him again.

* * *

get this

right when i got home someone freed up a screen for me

guess i have no excuse not to practice

gotta get good enough to be on your level

hey! sorry i didn't see your messages till now!

jade got back home as soon as you left and we've been playing since,

i'm glad to see you got home safe, i was just about to ask if you were home!

well actually i was just about to go to bed

and i wouldn't have been able to rest unless i knew you were home.

* * *

You didn't get a reply from him, maybe he's asleep by now or he's taking advantage of the opportunity to play.

All you needed was to know that he's home. Although, it's hurting your heart that he feels like a stranger in his own home, you're going to have to let him know that he's always welcomed in yours.

You softly smile down at your screen. The white glow from your phone is gently grazing your face, illuminating your smile.

Slowly, you're smile turns to a frown. You may be able to picture Dave snuggled up in blankets and sleeping on his couch at home, but he's not the only one you have to worry about.

You get a notification that you just received a new message. Your fingers move as quick and as violently as lightning to respond. 

* * *

SORRY I MISSED YOUR MESSAGE,

I JUST NOW CHECKED MY PHONE.

* * *

You can't help but giggle at his message, you love that he even yells when he types. He's such a funny guy!

* * *

it's okay!

did you just get off work?

NO, I'M STILL AT MY DESK.

what?!

you're telling me that you're STILL at work?

I ALWAYS WORK TILL THE JANITOR KNOCKS ON MY DOOR.

oh god...

how am i supposed to get any sleep at night knowing you're still at work!?

DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, I'M FINE.

uhh.... bullshit!

go home and go to bed!

I'M KIND OF BACKED UP ON WORK

it's 2 am.

go!

home!

and call me when you get there!

I DON'T WANT TO CALL YOU SO LATE,

AND PLUS I ONLY HAVE A FEW MORE THINGS I NEED TO GET THROUGH.

how can you even do work when you're this TIRED!

i saw how you looked today! 

i saw the rings under your eyes!

i bet you fell asleep at your desk!!!

did you!?

OKAY FINE.

SO I TOOK A NAP AT MY DESK FOR LIKE TEN, MAYBE FIFTEENTH MINUTES.

I DO THAT EVERY OTHER DAY.

you really shouldn't!

sleeping like that is gonna kill your back!!!

IT ALREADY DOES. 

if it does then don't do it!

>:C

I'M ONLY WORKING SO LATE AND FUCKING SLEEPING ON MY DESK BECAUSE IT'S AROUND THE TIME I HAVE TO SPEAK WITH THE BOARD AGAIN,

SOON I'LL BE ON A NORMAL SCHEDULE.

no excuses!!!

D:<

you need to get some rest!

you're not going to do any good work when you're this tired!

do you think you're awake enough to drive?

I can find you an uber or something if you need me too, honey.

I'M FINE.

AND I'M GOOD TO DRIVE.

okay. so get on that.

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STOP WITH THIS? ARE YOU?

i'm not going to sleep until i know that you're in bed!

i can't sleep until i know that you're home safe and ACTUALLY GETTING REST!!!!

>:(

ALRIGHT.

FINE.

YOU WIN.

good! 

>:B

now. you let me know when you're home!

I WILL.

when you get home, i'll give you a little goodnight message to make it up to you for being so bossy!

and you better drive safe!

I WILL

<3

<3

* * *

You help your phone up to your chest. Karkat actually sent you a little heart emoji of your own!

You need to screenshot this so you can look at it whenever you get stressed at work, this is going to be your little motivator till he does something else just as cute! He's so sweet under his grumpy, shouty demeanor.

Of course, it is possible that Dave does something just as sweet and you can use that as a motivator instead... after all Dave is super fun. Or... what if you fall for him... and not Karkat?

You sigh. You don't know what you're going to do if that happens...

Down the line, you have no idea what you'll do in the future or how you'll feel about either of them for that matter...

You let the thought escape your mind as you sigh to clear your thoughts.

You capture a photo of Karkat's little heart made of text and put it aside for a rainy day.

You settle on your mattress and lay down on your bed right after.

Just as suddenly as you screen flashes, you got a call on your phone.

It's an unknown number.

You don't know who could be calling so late.

You don't answer, just wait for it to go to voicemail.

Once it's done you bring your phone up to your ear and give it a listen.

Apparently one of the job listings that you applied to a while ago just got back to you now.

You hum to yourself as you listen to the rest of the message.

Yeah... you have no idea what you're going to do.


	10. honesty

"-and then -okay and this was _right_ after she cut me in line- she just acted like she never heard me!? Can you believe that?" After John finished talking, he downs an entire green tea mochi in one bite. You can't believe he's still doing that after he just got a major case of brain freeze.

You shake your head as you readjust your shades and leaned back on John's couch. "Can't believe anyone would just do shit like that to a complete stranger."

"Eh, it's fine. I guess." John sighs, "no harm done, right...? I should just you know... not let stuff like this get to me."

"Nah." You shake your head again. "If anything, you should have just but in line in front of her, like she did you."

"I don't know... what good would that do?" John downed another mochi and chewed it. Once he managed to swallow down the ice cream he told you, "Then neither of us would be happy, and I'm not the kinda guy who likes conflict -hey, this stuff is really good." John started focusing more on the balls of mochi in between the two of you instead of his miserable trip to the shop that's right underneath his two-bedroom apartment, speaking of which, this is a really fuckin' nice apartment for how frugal John seems to be.

Both of you are sitting down in John's living room, he decided to have you over again so you could both talk about your day over some snacks and games. John is so your speed, he's super fuckin chill... chill unless he gets excited over food. John was so damn pumped to eat that boa you picked up through take-out and these packets of mochi you just grabbed from the store when you wanted to grab some redbull.

John thanks you, for the fiftieth time today, "thank you so much for going out of your way for these, they are amazing." He's referring to the mochi, you can't believe he's never tried them before today. 

"I didn't go out of my way, I had to go to the store anyway to pick up _these_." You lift up your drink and basically toast John for a moment before bringing the can up to your lips.

John lightly laughed and groaned at the same time in response. "Honestly... Dave. Talking with you really calms my mind."

You lift up your redbull from your lips to say, "same" and then go right back to drinking.

"I just... you know..." John starts scratching the inside of his arm. Suddenly, he looks so timid. "You're like super cool -about everything!- and I keep thinking... that... um.... Jesus, this sounds so dumb..."

"I bet you that it's not." You don't want John to ever think that anything he has to tell you is _dumb, _whatever it is... it's probably super cute.

John confesses, "I keep thinking that I'm going to get all tongue-tied and flustered whenever I'm planning on talking to you... and then I actually talk to you and, I just feel soooo... you know...? Um..."

John chuckles at his own thoughts before he tells you, "calm."

You put your drink down. You sit up and look at John, "I feel the same way."

"Ha." John's shoulders slightly lift up as he laughs, "I don't believe that you feel the exact _same way _I do."

You usually don't feel the need to tell people about your personal life or your struggles. John probably got that you were a bit timid when you first visited his place. You were blushing red as a cherry cause you thought you were about to pop Jo- okay! Best not to think **that **way right now. Not when John is right in front of you, looking at you with those big blue eyes. You can't help it... you have to let him in on the gist that you are usually miserable when you leave the house and to this day you're still horrible with people. You don't need to confess it all... but just giving him a glimpse is good. 

You smile at your boyfriend and tell him, "I didn't really get out of the house until _long_ after I started up my career. And even then, for the most part it was just me recording my thoughts just so I could get them out without having to like, go out... I just like... didn't like meeting new people... and then when I started posting my videos, I got this audience of people who liked what I was doing and they liked my off, fucked up, sense of humor... and then I didn't feel... you know, alone."

John slightly tilted his head as he stared into your shades. 

You continue, "I might not feel exactly the same way you do... but I've had some low moments, and I don't really talk to people in general 'less it's for business... so all of this" -you gesture to John's apartment- "is a pretty big deal to me."

"So you don't really go out either?" John asked, he asked more like he was confirming that the two of you were one and the same. 

You shake your head, "no, not really."

"Ha... wow..." John shook his head and then looked down at his hands, his fingers are covered with the dust from the mochi. "I get pretty like... you know... in my head about every social interaction I have."

John leaned his head against your shoulder, "I get hung up on like... every little thing, every mistake I make and every awkward pause... I can't stop overthinking every single conversation I have."

John nuzzled his head into your neck, "but when I think back on all the times we talked, I felt so confident. I feel so confident."

John lightly lifted up his head to look up at you, "you feel the same?"

You nod and let him know that your content, "I feel at peace when I'm with you."

John takes a deep breath and sighs, a comfortable sigh.

John opens his mouth to speak- but he's cut off by the sound of the door kicking open.

"Guess who just got nachos?!" It looks like John's roommate is home, she cheerfully holds up a plastic bag with her eyes closed as she says, "and they are spicy as hell! Going in and out!"

You instantly laugh at that. You're not into chicks but even you have to admit she's a bombshell, and hearing her say that gross shit right there, that's some funny fuckin shit. You gotta write that down for a skit later.

"I've got something _big _to tell yooouuu!" Jade sings to her roommate as she shuts the door behind herself and then locks it. Once she turns around to walk over she gets a glimpse of the two of you resting on the couch.

She looks completely shook down to her core. Like she's seen God.

Jade rushes over and places both of the plastic bags she brought in right onto John's lap and then she turns to run off- no, wait. She turns back and kisses John's cheek, and then she turns to run off.

It takes about thirty seconds before Jade enters the living room again.

She changed from jeans and a shirt to a pair of tiny shorts and a crop top. Jade put up her ebony hair and looks like she's wearing some gold lip gloss... you donn' know if she had that on before, but something tells you she just globbed it on.

"Hiiii!!!" Jade cheerfully tilted her head and introduced herself, "my names Jade! I'm John's roomie!"

"He knows, I told Dave everything about you." John sounded tired as he sighed.

"Oh!?" Jade perked up, "so you know that I'm a big fan!?" 

Jade grabs both of your hands and holds them close to her heart, "I'vebeenwatchingallofyourvideossinceyoustartedand-" her words are going a mile a minute now. You can hardly make out anything she's saying.

You just nod at all of Jade's words like your brain can register them. "Butallofyourmostrecentstuff-"

"Jade. Take a moment to breathe." John buts in.

Jade looked over at John and then back at you, "I'm just!" She paused for a moment and then lowered her volume, "I'm just such a big fan."

John nodded at her gently and then told her, "Dave came over to get a break from his work, let him relax."

"Relax." Jade sits down right besides you, she sounds breathless. "Right. Yeah. You just relax and John and I will make you feel right at home."

You turned your head towards John, just to tell him with a look that your brain didn't comprehend any of what she just told you.

John took a deep breath and then exhaled it. He shrugged back. 

John spoke up and told Jade, "Dave was actually right about to head out, he's gotta get an early start for tomorrow."

"Oh!?" Jade happily scooted towards you, "you've got plans!?"

"Eh, I'm thinking about bringing back that skit where I make something from an old cookbook."

"And completely fuck it up?!" Jade happily cheered. "That's one of my favorite bits from your series! You're really bringing it back!?"

You reel your head back a bit. You guess you do fuck up cooking a lot, but you honestly try.

John grabs your attention by patting the back of your hand. "Sweetheart." Right when John called you that pet name, you could hear his best friend squeak.

John softly asks you, "you made cooking videos? I never got around to telling you how much I love cooking."

"Uh yeah..." You confess to the both of them, "-but I don't mean to like... mess up."

Jade told you, "you just need a good teacher! John is seriously the best at baking! OH MY GOD!" Jade shot her head towards John and shouted at him, "You could totally teach him!" 

Jade turns to you and loudly says, "John is super good at cooking and even better at baking. You have to try it sometime! OH! Maybe he can even be a guest on your little show!" Jade shimmed her shoulder as she offered you her thoughts.

"I don't know if I have the time for that right now, Jade." John shook his head.

"We can both make time!" Jade cheered.

_'Wait... what does she mean by that?'_

Jade tuned towards you and pitched you an idea she must have had for years, "would you be interested in having a engineer guest star on your show?! I can show you how to build a robot and then we can make them fight to the death! I was thinking it would be so funny if we took the time to go through like the whole process and then you end up with just a roomba with a knife taped to it or a vacuum cleaner or whatever is funnier!"

You have to admit, that sounds like a solid idea. But a lot of effort, you'd have to find the parts, set up shop, film-

John shakes his head. "Jade. I meant earlier that I think Dave needs a break from thinking about work."

"Right-right." Jade waved John off, "so I was thinking, when I guest star I can wear like a lab coat with this tight, sexy outfit underneath..." Jade pressed a finger up to her chin and looked up to the ceiling in thought, "that is, unless you want me to wear a bikini"

"Jade!?" John sounded shocked.

"No- no!" Jade corrected herself, "John! He used to have a series of videos like that! He'd hire like really hot girls in bikinis to just stand around and he'd have hot teaches teach him how to do stuff! I was thinking we could bring that back."

You're not sure if now is the best time to bring up that you were only doing that to dispel any rumors about you being gay... and then that was around the time you fully realized that you were. Instead of bringing that up you just say, "Oh, I don't really do that bit anymore..."

"I noticed!" Jade nodded. "That's why it would be so fun to bring that back! You could do like a throwback thursday kinda deal! Bring back all your old stuff that everyone misses!"

"You mean that you miss." John interrupted. "And are you really sure that this is the sort of move you wanna pull right now?"

"What do yeah mean!?" Jade clasps her hands together and happily argues with John, "It's perfect! I put my name out there, and I expose my brand to a whole audience that might not have seen it otherwise! You should know this already, mr. business!"

"Expose is the right word." John joked. "You really want to go on a show... like this... and wear a bikini... when you're trying to start up a business?"

"Aw! John, come on!!!" Jade tosses up her hands. "Don't rain on my parade!"

Jade pointed at John as she said, "you know my grandpa used to go on talk shows and get hammered?! And on-air he'd have someone bring out one of his rifles so he could shoot the bottles once he was done with them! And let me tell you- glass just goes flying everywhere! It's a hazard, John! Me wearing a bikini and heels is nowhere near as bad as getting wasted and-"

"The two things aren't even similar!" John explains. "That was when your grandpa was rich enough to do whatever the hell he-"

"Wait..." You interrupt. The thought registering in your mind... you've heard that story before. You ask Jade, "is your grandpa.. Jake Harley?"

Jade proudly nods and hums, "mmhh hmm!"

"That dude is a fucking legend." You laugh with your mouth closed. "Shit. I remember that one scandal that came up cause he was caught eating a dolphin so he like donated money to preserving dolphins... and then he publicly announced -off the cuff- that he still eats them."

Jade started chuckling. "He's nuts! When John first came over my place, Gramps was there and he gave John a puppy and a bottle of scotch to bring home- oh my God, John's dad lost his shit over that!" 

Jade snorts and you laugh right along with her.

You ask her, "didn't he bring strippers with him to an awards ceremony once...? Right? He just hired them to sit on his lap for something... it was for some science or engineering award show thing, right?"

"God." Jade shakes her head with a huge grin on her face, "grandpa used to bring girls like that home all the time and he'd just hand ten year old me a frisbee and get my dog hyped to play outside so he could bang them." Jade instantly starts cracking up like it was a good memory for some reason. This chick is everything John warned you about and more. You love her already. 

You have to ask her, "I heard he crashed a jet into the ocean for the hell of it and swam to his yacht. Is that shit true?" 

"I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past him." Jade shook her head. "He does messed up stuff like that all the time!"

"What's the most insane thing he's ever done?" You ask her. You really want to know.

"Ummm..." Jade's trying so hard not to laugh as she explains, "he dressed up as Santa for Christmas and handed John a box filled with porno mags! _In front of his dad!"_

"How old were you?" You ask John.

"Fourteen." John lowered his eyes, he didn't find it nearly as funny as Jade did. 

"Oh, don't look so mad!" Jade blew John off. "At least you didn't get the talk from him!"

"I can only imagine." You stare off at nothing in amazement. Jake Harley gave some poor teenage girl the talk. You can't even picture how miserable that had to be.

"He offered to take me to strip clubs all the time growing up." John shook his head. "And every time I'd say no, he'd give me some spiel about how it's like a passage into manhood, like I didn't get enough talks like that from my own dad."

"Hey." Jade patted John's knee. "That -and the fact you weren't into me- was what led him to figure out that you were gay. And he was like super cool about it! Remember?" Jade turned to her best friend, "he bought you those gay porno mags after that."

"Ugh." John buried his face in his hands. 

You pat John's shoulder. He seems embarrassed, but you're honestly so fucking impressed right now. Whata childhood that must have been. 

John gestured to Jade, "can we talk about something else please, and not... this?"

Jade scoffed and then she turned to you, "okay, so John tells me that you want to get into fighting games."

You nodded. And with that, Jade just went off on every single tidbit of knowledge she had, she told you who her favorite melee player was and what she thinks of niche games like bloody roar. Good Lord, Jade knows games that you've never even heard of. No wonder why John's so good, he's gotta keep up with her. 

At the end of your conversation, it's already midnight. John tells you two that he's tired. John already told you that he has work in the morning and he needs to get to bed. You're kicking your own ass out the door. 

You get up and say goodnight to Jade. She stands up to wrap her arms around you and then she swings you from side-to-side. You think you felt her take a large whiff of your chest. Jade leaves you and your boyfriend alone to go to her room, apparently she's worn out from the excitement of meeting you. 

John walks you over to his front door, you step out into the hall way and turn around to say goodbye.

John crosses his arms and shakes his head, "sorry about all of that."

"Why apologize? That was a lot of fun. Jade's amazing." You tell him.

"Ha." John looked down at the floor. John lifted up his eyes to meet your shades again.

"I had a great time tonight." You tell him.

"Yeah..." John smiles at you.

You're not sure if now is the right time for this or not. But you feel like the moments right.

You lean down and peck John on the cheek. 

When you pull back your head you can see John's face. He looks slightly surprised. Mostly like he's content. 

John nods and his expression shimmers down into a small smile.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." John softly tells you.

"Night." You wish him, "good luck with work tomorrow."

"I need all the luck I can get, I'll tell you that much." John laughs. "Night."

John shuts the door and you make your way down the steps and to the parking lot. 

You let out a small shudder of a sigh from your chest.

_John let you kiss him goodnight._

* * *

You're laying on your back in bed, twiddling around with your phone. Your signature shades resting on top of your head.

You got a migraine earlier in the day when you were recording all of your clips for today's show. 

You're praying and wishing that John's finally going to get around to calling you soon. He usually does at this time of the day. 

You've been thinking all day about last night. You spent pretty much the whole night going back and forth with John's best friend, you kinda ended up ignoring him.

You didn't mean to, it's just Jade is a lot to take in. You wonder how John feels about that.

You bet that he probably just wanted to head off to bed the moment that you started asking questions about Jade's grandpa.

Maybe you made a mistake... maybe you should have just told the two of them that you were tired once Jade walked in and then headed out...

You stare at down your phone. This is right about the time that John gets off of work and he's usually hungry... maybe he's out with the other guy right now.

You sigh. Maybe it's time to give this a rest. You should just go back to your midday nap.

You put your phone back down on your night stand and lay down your head to rest your eyes when it starts vibrating. 

You jolt up, instantly you're sitting on the edge of your bed and putting your phone up to your ear.

"Hey, babe." You answer. Shit! You've never called John babe before, what if he hates the nickname?!

"I'm hoping that you were expecting someone else." Rose responds. "Or are you just trying out a new gimmick? Let me inform you now that referring to the other women here on staff as 'babe' might set off a different reaction than what you're hoping for."

You can breathe easy now. It's just Rose.

"Or perhaps you just accidentally let slip an unspoken attraction to me?" Rose chuckles.

Or maybe not.

You sigh and lay back down in bed as you say, "you know John usually calls me around this time."

"And he hasn't yet." Rose sounds annoyed. "So if you're free, we could really use your help downstairs."

"Nah. I'm busy." You blow her off. 

"Jacking off or crying?" Rose sighs after she asks.

"Oh damn, I'm running a bit behind on my schedule." You say just like you're flipping through your personal calendar, "I might have to knock out both at the same time."

"Best of luck with that. But do you think you could maybe take a few minutes out of your schedule to discuss hiring another new-"

Just as Rose started up with her usual demands, your phone let you know you had another call. 

"I've gotta go, someone else is on the line." You deny her the chance to rant.

"Best wishes then. Not like I'm drowning in a sea of despair, crushed by the very waves that you have brought on to me."

"You'll survive." You rub your forehead, you still have that migraine.

"And if I do, I'll kill you." 

You hang up on her just as she finished. Rose always says that she's understaffed, and then once you get someone new in everyone complains that the 'new guy' has no fucking idea what they're doing for a good six months till they get fully assimilated in.

You don't give a shit about any of that right now. You just want to hear John's voice. 

You answer your phone, already starting with the usual, "hey, how was work?"

"Miserable, but you know that I live for the grind." You didn't expect to hear _that _voice.

You sigh and stop yourself from groaning, "Dirk."

It's your asshole brother over the phone, he's already going on about how he's having some issues with this and some problems with that. He just called you so he could bitch about his day again. 

"Listen, bro, I'm not in the mood. I have a headache and-"

"You seem like you expected someone else when I picked up, one of your employees, right? Don't tell me you don't have anything you don't want to rant about."

"For your information." You sigh and tell Dirk, "I was waiting for my boyfriend to call."

"Really? Still ?" Dirk sounded disappointed. "I thought you would have had your fill by now."

"Nope." You take a deep breath out of your nose, "I'm committed." 

"Dave. I get it. Everyone else your age is out having fun and living it up and you're cooped up at work and you want to have fun with a guy that seems nice-"

"Bro."

"I understand completely, but it's time for you to settle down. Retire from your job, it's too much stress on you and this _John _isn't helping."

You already want to fucking fight him, but you're too tired so you'll settle for just muttering out, "Dirk!"

"Dave, you're sensitive. I get that. All of those dates, think of them more as testing the waters. Getting used to the tediousness of dating. Now, I can set you up with this guy I know who hates the whole experience as much as you do."

"I don't hate going on dates. I just hate it when you force me, or _trick me _into them."

"You'll learn to be grateful when you're spending your days sinking in all of your husband's money, while you just sleep all day floating around your own pool-" 

You interrupt him, "I don't like sunbathing, you know how bad I get burnt."

"Then get an umbrella."

"I don't think you understand how pools work." You turn to your side, and before you can tell him that he's the one who needs to relax for once, Dirk cuts you off again,

"Dave. Come on." Dirk sounds honestly annoyed with you. You can't believe this shit. 

You try your best not to shout, "you don't have to oversee every single thing I do, you know that?"

"I think I do. I bet you're in bed right now napping, instead of working. Am I right?"

"...I'm expecting a call, you know?"

"Dave."

"What?" You almost snap at him. You try to keep your cool but your bro always makes it so difficult.

"I just don't want to see you..." Dirk trails off.

"What?" You ask him. It's really not like the guy to just linger on a word like that.

"Forget it." Dirk tells you, "get back to work, don't lay in bed all day."

"Didn't you** just** say that you** wanted** me to sleep all day?" You're close to losing it.

"What's the fucking difference if I'm married or not?!" Nevermind, you're just going to lose it.

"I'm so fucking sick of this, bro!" You start barking into your phone. "Everytime you call me, all you do is bitch about your day and then you tell me that my career is worthless-"

"Dave."

"-or that my boyfriend seems like he's just a nice friend! Fuck off! Seriously! I don't need this shit right now! I have more important things to worry about!"

"Like what?" Dirk asks, "waiting on a call from your boyfriend?"

"Shut the fuck up." You snap at him. "I have a headache and I just want to take an aspirin and rest, I'm just waiting on my boyfriend to call me when he gets out of work and I get a fucking call where you bitch at me about not being married. Why would I want to marry a guy I never fucking see and live off of his cash when I have my own. You think that would honestly make me happy!?"

Your bro doesn't say anything in response. 

"Dirk?" 

It isn't like him to trail off and it seriously isn't like him to be speechless. 

You can ignore that you're pissed for this, "is something wrong?" 

"I'm fine. I'm more..." Dirk sighs. "Worried about you." 

"Come on. I told you... I've been doing better." You hold onto the phone and tell your bro, "and you know what, being with John is like being with a friend... but I really like him as a lover too. I think I'd rather be with a guy like this than any of the guys you set me up with. And I'm good on money, okay?"

"I know. But you have expensive taste." Dirk sounds like he almost laughed. You know him well enough to know he rarely ever does. If you can get him to come close to laughing though, then he's fine.

"Bro... I think John's the guy for me right now... so no more springing this shit on me, okay?"

"If it's stressing you out." Dirk agrees to your demands, "I won't bother you with this."

"Thank you." You close your eyes and let lose a gentle sigh.

"At least until you break up."

You hang -right the fuck- up on him.

You get it. Dirk's worried for you.

He probably feels like he can't always be there for you and that one day you're money is going to dry up. You're a lot better with money now then you were when you were a few years back.

You bet he things if you had some rich ass husband who's never home and always out, you'd be taken care of and you'd get to do whatever stupid shit you wanted without judgement.

Dirk probably thinks that the only guy who'd like you is a guy who knows next to nothing about you.

Well, everyone with a laptop can make a guess about what you're really like just by hitting the trending tab on YouTube. Too bad Dirk's plan to get you hitched was doomed from the beginning... probably all of those guys you were set up on dates with already assumed they knew everything about you and didn't even put in the effort to get to know you. 

Dirk's in luck though... you don't feel stressed out or miserable... 

Even though you've been battling this migraine for most of the day.

Even though you've been waiting by the phone for a single call, you feel mostly at peace.

You think it's about time you get up and help Rose now. 

She needs the extra set of hands.

Right as you sit up on your bed, you get another call on your phone.

You answer with a simple, "hello?"

"Hello?! Why does that sounds so formal coming from you!?" John's on the other line, already snorting and laughing it up.

He sounds like he's walking down a busy street, you can hear cars racing past him.

"How was work?" You ask him with a smile.

"I survived." John joked. "You?"

"Came out the other end with a migraine." You confess.

"Oh no!!!" John sounded honestly heart-broken, "you poor thing! Did you take something for it?"

"Yes." You tell John.

"Make sure that you drink lots of water!" John sounded sweet as he told you, "if it gets worse let me know! I don't know how loud it is at your place, but mine is almost always calm! Just say the word, and I'll tell Jade that you'll come over if she's quiet! We can watch a show together if you want."

"I'll take you up on that another night, I'm fine for now." You reassure John. "My room is on the other side of my house so it's far away from where everyone else is working."

"Whoa! How big is your place?!" John sounds amazed.

"Someday, I'll have to show you." You try your best to make that sound like an invitation to take a tour and not an invitation to visit your bed.

"I'd love too! Ha! Maybe I should bring my best friend along and have her talk with your roomies while the two of us sneak off to play upstairs!"

Ooooor maybe John wouldn't mind skipping a tour and going right to your room. 

Of course, last time you thought that John wanted to get frisky he ended up meaning what he was saying. He probably really does want to play a game with you.

Shit. John started telling you about his day and you missed half of it, "ugh! but the traffic seems so terrible, I told him I don't even think getting a car is worth it. Plus I can't afford it."

Right when you were about to offer to lend one of your cars if he needed one, John told you.

"Of course then, Karkat offered to let me use his honda and I flat out said no. I am the worst at driving and directions. It's a double whammy! I'm certain i'd get in an accident!"

"Wait... who's Karkat?" You ask John. "One of your work colleagues?"

"Uh..." John stammered for a moment. "He's actually my other boyfriend..."

"Oh..." You try your best not to sound disappointed. "Can I ask what he's like?"

"You really... would like to know?" John sounded a bit confused, but gleeful at the question.

"Yeah, man." You nodded, even though he can't see you. "Tell me about him."

"Well... he's a bit rough around the edges, but he's got a kind heart underneath it all." John sounds like he's hesitant to say more.

You stand up and start pacing around your room, "go on."

"He does work at the same place I do, but not on... the same floor... so I see him only sometimes when I'm at work." John suddenly seems really timid. 

You try to sound encouraging, "yeah?" 

"But you know... I did get a call from another place I applied to." John sounds a bit hopeful.

"You did?" You slow down your pace.

John tells you, "apparently they are interested in bringing me on board."

You stop pacing around as you say, "that's only good news if you're interested... so are you thinking about quitting your other job?"

"I am... actually." John sounds a bit nervous.

"That's great then." You don't get why John seems so apprehensive about this.

"It's just... I don't know how Karkat's gonna take it..."

"I'm sure he'll be happy so long as you are." You try your best to hold back a sigh. 

"Yeah... but I'm planning on leaving just cause... I don't really wanna have a workplace relationship."

You lightly gasp in air. You try your best to stay silent. How long does John expect to be dating this guy for?

John starts up again, "and... Dave?"

"Yeah?" After you speak, there is a brief pause in between the two of you.

"Can we talk about something in person?" John lightly sighs. He sounds like this is a conversation he's dreading having. 

"...sure..." 

"How about we meet at that one hot dog place you were telling me about?" John tries to sound more cheerful, "the place with the garlic fries, it sounds really good! I mean, you and I have really similar tastes so... you know... I'm sure I'm gonna love it."

You lightly smile down at your phone, "Hey... John."

"Yes, Dave?" 

You don't know if now is the right time, but you can't just let this go... "We really do have similar taste, at least when it comes to food and games and shit... you've been so much fun to just chill with."

You confess to him, "even if the two of us don't end up with each other, I'm fine with that... I can live, but I don't wanna stop seeing you. I never met a guy like you... and to be real, I'd be miserable if we stopped seeing each other."

"Wa-" John tripped over his own words. "Wa-wait?"

John gasped and nearly shouted into your ear, "do you think I'm breaking up with you!?"

"Uh... seemed like you might be gearing up for that..."

"OH! GOSH DAMN IT!" You hear a loud slap over the phone. "I bet Karkat thought the same thing!"

"Uh...?"

"I wanted to talk to you about... ugh. Something else."

"I'm cool if we talk about it over the phone, doesn't have to be in person."

"I guess I should just come out with it huh?" 

"To be real, I'd prefer it."

"I... I wanted to ask if it would be alright if I kept dating the two of you... like... for as long as we're... together?"

"I'm down with that." You instantly agree. _'Whatever John wants.'_

"Really? It wouldn't be too... _awkward?"_ John lightly chuckles, like he's trying to embody the word 'adorable.'

"I'll be real with you, even if it is awkward... I'm used to it." You lightly joke, "you know me. You've meet me. I'm like the king of making things more uncomfortable than they need to be."

John lightly snorted. "No!" John says through his laughs, "you're the coolest guy I've ever met! And never once did I ever feel uncomfortable around you, honey!"

I guess no matter what, I'm gonna be a bit dorky and awkward... I just think keeping you in the dark about my other relationship would be like... shitty... but talking to much about Karkat would be also like... rude? I don't know..."

"Don't worry about it none." You tell John. "You can say anything to me and I'll love it. At the risk of sounding to cheesy, I just love hearing your voice.

"Really?"

"I've been waiting by the phone since I got my headache cause hearing your voice is like... you know..."

"Aww... my god... my voice is soothing to you?!"

You just come out with it, "you're like medicine, babe."

John didn't say anything for a moment, you could hear muffling like he's trying to cover up his phone's mic with his hand. You think you can hear high-pitched giggles on the other line, actually you're sure of it.

John sounds like he was choking down a large smile as he told you, "I can't believe you thought I was gonna break up with you when you're this sweet!"

"Ha." You chuckled.

"Hey... how about since you already told me about your plan... how about I come with you and met your other boyfriend."

"I... Oh my god, really?!"

"Might as well. That way we all know the score." You smile softly at the phone. 

"Thank you thank you thank you! I was thinking about doing this but i didn't know the best way to ask! You're the best, Dave!" 

John seems really happy with that... and well... that's all you really need... at least for now.


	11. BEGINNING

John just called you earlier today...

_"There's something I want to talk about with you..." _

_You try to hide the panic in your mind, but you can still hear apprehension in your voice, "RIGHT...?" _

_"Um... can we meet up sometime soon...?" _

_"OF COURSE." You instantly agree. _

_"Oh... good... um..." John sounds like he doesn't know what to say... _

_"JOHN. YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY. I'LL SEE YOU SOON." _

_"oh..." He sounds so quiet as he says, "okay... goodbye, honey." _

You can't help but think that this is how John is going to break it off with you, but the other half of you hopes that John's going to leave the other guy and just needs a shoulder to cry on. Either way, John's heart is so fragile, you just know he's just going to break into tears right after he breaks it off with either of you. John probably needs someone to hold him after he rips off the band-aid. 

Once John makes his choice, John's just going to shatter and break. You never want to see him cry, let alone over you. You're going to make this easy on him... but still... If he wants to break it off with you, you're going to need to find a way to let him know you're still open if John changes his mind down the line. You need to make it clear that you like him** that **much. 

You don't know for sure if John's breaking up with you or not, still you have to remain pessimistic. You can't be too confident that John's going to pick you just cause you're romantic or because you're wealthy, the other guy could be too.

You can picture your whole world shattering apart as John whimpers out that he doesn’t want ot see you anymore. You guess you’re so fucking easy that you gave you’re whole heart to John already.

Unexpectedly, your phone starts ringing. You know that ringtone. You reach into your back pocket and right away you drag the phone up to your head and pick up.

“JOHN?”

"Hey... honey?"

"HEY."

"So. I just got off the phone with… the other guy I’m seeing, and I don’t want you to stress so I’m just gonna tell you my plans for tomorrow night…” John paused for a moment.

“…YEAH?” You shuffle in your desk chair, you’re on edge about what he’s going to say next.

“Well, first let me say this… I’m thinking of interviewing for another job…”

“HUH?” You don’t know why John’s coming out the gate with this. You feel your gut twist up into knots as you wait for John to speak up again.

“I just don’t want to have a workplace relationship with _you… as my boss…_ cause first of all, I don’t want you to get in trouble and second of all, I keep thinking about going to your office -while I’m on the job- and just snuggling up to you and cuddling you and it’s driving me nuts! I can’t focus and it literally is making it impossible to work!”

You wouldn’t mind if John came up to your office and started snuggling you… and honestly you don’t think the president would either. Terezi told you that you’ve been more agreeable lately and you’re damn sure that she’s on to you after she caught John giggling in your office.

“Karkat?” John sweetly utters into the phone your nickname, “Karkat… honey?”

“HUH?” You guess you checked out for a moment, “OH- JOHN THAT’S MORE THAN FINE WITH ME. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHY.”

“Yeah, it’s for the best. Right?”

Sounds like John isn’t thinking of breaking it off with you any time soon. You feel a wave a relief surge through you. Still… he called for more than just that. John said he has plans for tomorrow night.

“WHAT WAS THE REST OF WHAT YOU WANTED TO TELL ME?”

“Oh!” John sounds like he just perked up. _“Well… _I was thinking of meeting up with you… _aaannnd… my other boyfriend_ for dinner!” John sang to you.

“…REALLY?” You feel like punching your fist into your hard-wood desk till you crack it.

“Yes.” Now for some reason John sounds tense, “there’s… something we all need to talk about.”

“ALRIGHT.” You sit up from your desk and start pacing. You have to resist the urge to kick the extra wastepaper basket sitting out that the janitor brought in for you. “I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.”

“You are!?” John sounded happy with that. “I’m glad! You know, I was so worried that I might have worried you with my earlier call. I guess it must have sounded like I was gonna break it off with you, but anyway- I talked to my other boyfriend and he said-”

So, whoever the fuck is dating John _really is_ good enough to him that John wants to stay with him. Your good looks and money can only bring you so far. You’re going to end this soon. You’re sure once John sees the two of you side-by-side, John’s going to be able to tell that you’re the one he should stick with. You’re the kind of man he should marry, but that’s a challenge for another day. For right now you’re just going to rush to get your work done for the night, get some real rest in your bed and then worry about the rest tomorrow. 

. . .

Shit. Not only is today the day, now's the fucking time. You're still certain that John is just getting you three together just to introduce his _two boyfriends_ to each other as he continues to date you both. He must not want you to feel out of the loop with his life or something. The whole thing is going to be completely fucking awkward... for the other guy, once he sees how fucking stacked with cash you are and how fucking good you look in this suit, he might just tuck tail and run. You're pretty sure though that whoever this guy is, he's not gonna give up on John easily. No sane man would. 

John asked you over the phone if you knew someplace private that had nice seating_ "and maybe burgers. tehehehe!"_ You know every good place to eat in the city. Back when you were still hopeful you'd find someone special, you studied up on the best date spots and restaurants in the area. Now that you're certain that you've found someone special, it's time to put that knowledge to good use. 

No way whatever fucker John picked up is going to be able to outdo you... still... John still wants to date both of you at the same time and he's just trying to do you the courtesy of getting letting you meet his _number 2 guy. _Well you're** his** _grumpy guy _and you're about to show the fucker why.

You're early, plenty early. You are getting some work over the phone, making calls and sending texts. You still need to catch up on work before you meet with your investors again, also you could use the distraction. You'd hate to admit it, but you're more nervous than you think you've ever been. Feels almost like you're about to ask John to marry you. You're basically going to flaunt everything that you have as a man and try to wean him off of whoever the fuck it was that John choose to date on the side.

Moments pass, you get a few calls out of the way... now you're starting to sweat. John should be here any moment now. You hear the door handle jimmy and then slowly swing open. John thanks the man holding the door for him and sweetly rushes up to hug you before you could even stand to greet him. 

"Karkat! Sweetheart!" John places a kiss on your cheek and tells you kindly, "thank you so so so much for this!" John gives you a tight squeeze and then sits right by your side. There's only three chairs at the table. You made sure that John has the view overlooking the water. It's about noon now so the sunlight is beaming on the waves. You can make out a small doc bellow. There's a few ships sailing by, which John finds fascinating. 

"YOU LIKE THE VIEW?" You ask him.

"Oh!" John turns his head and stares at you again, "it reminds me of home." 

John tells you softly, "I used to go out by the piers when I was a kid growing up in Washington."

John sighs. He relaxes a bit and then says, "I'm feeling... um... a bit nervous about this."

"I'M GOING TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, JOHN." You nod. "I AM A BIT NERVOUS TOO."

"Yeah?" John smiles a bit. You must have said the right thing. 

You stumble for a moment to think of something else to say, "UH... IT'S JUST THAT IT'S NOTHING LIKE... ANYTHING I'VE EVER BEEN THROUGH."

"Yeah... I understand what you're saying." John looks down at the white table cloth and then says, "I've never had a boyfriend till now... and I keep feeling like I'm doing... wrong by the two of you." John looks down at the table. He looks like he's almost about to tear up. You place your hand on his on instinct. John uses his other hand to rub the back of yours, like he's still the one comforting you. You look down at him with a little smile, he's still looking down at the table.

John sighs and tells you, "I really like the two of you, I don't want to hurt you... you're both so kind and good to me... so I just... can't bring myself too... I'm sorry. I should save this for when we're all together."

John sniffles his nose a tiny bit. He looks up at you and says, "ha! oh... allergies." 

You dig through your back pocket and sit up a bit. You show him your tailored gray suit in the process of digging out a blue handkerchief for him to use out of your front pocket. 

John giggles as he takes it. "Did you pick this out just for me?"

You softly ask, "HOW COULD YOU TELL?"

"It's the same color as my eyes." John hides his smile behind the handkerchief.

John keeps giggling as he buries his face into the fabric. He looks so flustered with you at the moment. 

"I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT." You softly tell him.

John squeeks into the cloth as he wipes down his eyes under his glasses.

You hear the door open once again. You watch John pull the cloth away from his face and hold it in his hand. John's face lights up as he turns his head and cheers out the name of his other boyfriend, "Dave!"

. . .

There he is. Just sitting across from you and staring at you with the same hidden contempt you're feeling. You ordered your food the moment Dave sat down. He just skimmed the menu and asked the waitress for whatever she thought was the best thing on the menu. No doubt it's also going to be the most expensive. Dave's already knows that this is on your tab. He's just fucking acting sly as he talks to John after the waitress leaves, 

"You look nice, babe." 

You feel like decking the fucker in the gut. You hear your ears ring as John and Dave talk back and forth. John's shirt is the same tight one he wore when you had your dinner date recently. John's chest is even peaking through his shirt at the moment. You can fucking see his whole chest through it, not to mention that it's freezing balls in here. Dave can clearly see that. You can tell he's just eyeing John up and down through those shades. The two of them are laughing now and chatting it up- John taps the back of your wrist and gestures towards you. You focus on the conversation and tune in to hear John say, "-and he was so sweet to buy me a handkerchief! So it's no big deal!" 

"No big deal?" Dave huffs out a small laugh. "Dude, my eyes are swelling up under my shades and I don't even usually get allergies."

John nearly gasps, "are you alright? If I didn't take something earlier today, I think I'd be sneezing like nuts!" John pouts and offers, "I can ask and see if someone could find some tissues for you."

"Nah, nah." Dave waved off John's genesority and told him, "I just need some time out of the fray, it's a warzone out there. For you and for me."

"I knoooow!" John nods. "The pollen count is so high today! It's horrible!" 

"Dude, if you're gonna walk home today, let me know. I'll be your ride." Dave offers.

"Awww! That's so sweet!" John giggles.

You feel your jaw clench. John taps the back of your hand again, "are you alright, honey?"

John sweetly looks at you with caring eyes, "you haven't said anything since we started talking."

"I'M JUST A BIT SURPRISED." You admit to the elephant in the room. "I DIDN'T THINK THAT YOU WERE DATING... HIM."

"Do you..." John turns and looks at Dave. Dave's wearing no expression, his arms are crossed and he's looking up at the small chandelier above you three. John finishes his thought, "do you two... know each other?"

You open your mouth to speak, the waitress comes in again. She breaks out breadsticks and places them in the middle of the table. Dave instantly reaches for one, before John even has the chance to get one and starts eating it. John giggles at seeing how egar Dave is to get a piece of disgusting soft garlic bread. "Hungry one, aren't you?"

"I just-" Dave talks with his mouth full and swallows. "I just love the damn things."

The waitress leaves after placing your drinks down all around you. Once she's out of the room you open your mouth again. Dave interrupts and says, "Vantas and I were on an arranged date day the two of us met, babe."

John gasps a bit and then looks at you, "and!?"

John looks at Dave as he says, "how did it go!?"

Johns looking between the two of you like he's hoping that it went... well... 

Shit. Does he fucking want you three to-

"Eh." Dave shrugs. "We didn't hit it off." 

You glare at Dave as he speaks for the two of you, "we just aren't really compatible, you know?"

"Well... you only went on one date, right?" John looks back at you, so you fix your gaze to look more friendly. More friendly... not actually friendly.

John says, "you two just didn't get off to the right start and then well... you met me so that probably complicated things..." 

John smiles and hums out a laugh. "But uh... well... now maybe since all three of us are here... we can maybe talk about the future of our relationship."

"I'D LOVE TOO." You mutter.

"Likewise." Dave gives you a slight scowl, only for a moment. John looked at him and he fixed his face back to the usual stoic fucking Strider stare. He just looks fucking brainless now.

The two of you sit down and listen as John talks about his walk over and all the cute dogs he saw and pet on the way over. Somehow with an eventful walk, he managed to still be on time while Dave was late.

The waitress finally came in after a few more moments of you pretending Dave wasn't checking out John's chest, the waitress puts down your burger filled with peppers and the best hot sauce on the block. John gets his mushroom angus burger. She's smart enough to put down your fries and cheese curds first before serving Dave. She's getting a big fucking tip from you. Then when she gets to Dave's side she sets his burger down and says,

"This is made with our specially made truffle oil hot sauce. It's a turkey burger with a Vietnamese pickled carrot & daikon, jalapenos and a few other mixed ingredients. I hope you enjoy."

"Thank you, sounds good." Dave tells the waitress and then she takes her leave.

"Ooooh!" John giggles. "Do you both like spicy food?!"

"Love it." Dave nods.

"IT'S MY USUAL CHOICE... YES." You at least attempt to sound pleasant. Dave's over there sounds like he's picking at his teeth. 

John happily asks Dave after he takes a bite,

"How spicy is it?!"

Dave swallows down the rest of his bite and says,

"Uh... usual amount of spice." 

This whole thing is so fucking awkward. John's just playing it off like everything is fine. He might be smiling and humming to himself, be he can read the room. 

John asks you, "and yours!?"

"IT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY HOT."

"Oh!" John giggles. "Well! You are what you eat." 

John turns red and then laughs into the palm of his hand. John's covering his face with one hand and clutching onto his handkerchief. He looks over at Dave and asks, "isn't Karkat here cute!?"

"Uh... hahaha..." Dave takes another bite of his burger before he even has a chance for John to ask him to honestly answer.

John looks over at you and points at Dave with his hand holding the cloth you brought him, "isn't Dave cute too!?"

You look over at Dave. He's chewing with his mouth open, sauce is starting to leak out of the side of his mouth.

You force yourself to mutter, "CHARMING." 

John gives you a light little giggle. You focus on him again. 

He pouts for a moment and then tells you, "I know that the two of you didn't hit it off... but I'm so happy that the tree of us all have a chance now to get to know eachother better!" 

John picks up his own burger as he invites you to, "tell us a little about yourself, dear."

You can never say no to him. You'll always just roll over and give him anything he wants.

You put down your food and tell the table, "MOST OF MY TIME I SPENT MAKING CALLS AND DOING WORK-"

John hums and waves at you. His mouth is full of food. He swallows down his burger and then looks down at it, "whoa this is good." John looks back at you and tells you, "no! Talk about your interests!"

"I..." You dwell on it for a moment. You don't have many... except for maybe one. "I ENJOY ROMCOMS."

John smiles up at you and says, "like... chick flicks!?"

"YES." You try your best not to smile at how cute his face looks. John looks so excited as he says,

"My best friend used to hate those!!!" John tells you, "I used to wanna watch 'em in theaters, but she always told me to go alone and then I'd have to watch them at home when they aired on tv or when I saw them on the library shelf." John frowns. Then he perks up, "but I bet you know like... all the best ones, right?!?"

Damn right, you do. "YES. I DO." You nod.

"Eeek!" John lets out a tiny squeak, "we should watch one together sometime!"

"AFTER I HAVE MY NEXT MEETING WITH THE INVESTORS, I'LL HAVE THE TIME TO DO ANYTHING YOU WANT." You tell him up front, "AFTER THIS WEEK, WE SHOULD BE GOLDEN."

"Aw!" John gives you a happy smile, "I love the way you talk when you're all happy! Golden!"

John thinks your forced politeness is... joy. Maybe it's for the best he thinks that.

John looks at Dave as he asks, "how about you, cutie? Do you like romcoms?"

"Ha." Dave jokes, "I don't have the attention span to sit through a movie."

John laughs. You almost do to. Dave seems like the kind of guy who can only pay attention to 10 second long clips before he loses interest. He probably spends more time jacking it to porn then anything else. You bet he doesn't even read.

John smiles at him and says, "what if we were cuddled up? Would you sit through one then?"

Dave's mouth is full again. He nods as a response. 

John giggles. "Oh I love this! You both are so adorable!" 

You can hear John's feet lightly stomping under the table, "I'm so happy we're all together! I'm just so happy! You both are so cute it's melting my heart!"

You're glad at least someone's happy.

John smiles and asks you, "what else do you like, sweetheart?" 

"UH..." You struggle to think of something. "I USED TO READ ROMANCE NOVELS WHEN I HAD THE TIME."

"Wow! Really?" John asks you, "do you really like the genre or something?"

"I GUESS... I WAS ALWAYS JUST LOOKING FOR AN OUTLET." You ignore that Dave is even here, you focus more on John to quwell down you anger. "I WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT PERSON IN MY LIFE, NEVER FOUND ANYTHING LIKE THAT. TIL NOW..."

"Well." John smiles at you, "I'm glad you found what you were looking for!"

You think you can get through this dinner, just so long as John keeps smiling like that. 

. . .

You listened on as John talked about his roommate and his favorite couple of movies. He got so excited about everything he talked about he almost ended up shouting. He would get embarrassed and say "excuse me" over just about everything. At the end of dinner John really did excuse himself to go use the restroom.

You were left alone at the table with... Strider.

The two of you spend a moment glaring at each other before Dave finally man up and said something to you. 

"So. You managed to put your phone down for once."

You sit with your arms crossed. "FOR SOMETHING ACTUALLY IMPORTANT. YES." 

"Wow." Dave gives you a smirk. "I'll give you that, John's worth it, but damn, man... you're really doing this?"

"DOING WHAT? DISRESPECTING YOU?" You lean back in your seat.

"Ha.** That too."**

You don't know what he's getting at. But if he's looking for an argument, he can shove it. You're sitting back and waiting for John to get back. You don't need to start shit with Strider, you're just gonna let him go off till **your **soulmate gets back.

You pull out your phone and check it.

"Wow." Dave says. You just ignore it. 

Dave fiddles around with his nearly empty glass of apple juice he ordered... probably just to seem cute to John, which worked. He asks you, "so... that shit that you said about romcoms... was that all just a fucking ploy or do you really like that shit?"

"WHAT?" You put your phone slowly down and onto the table. "WHY WOULD ME SAYING I LIKE ROMANTIC COMEDIES BE A PLOY?"

"Oh, no reason." Dave looks up at the ceiling and then back at you, "

"DIDN'T I TALK ABOUT ROMCOMS WHEN WE FIRST MET?"

"Fair point. Maybe that's the only thing you didn't _lie _about tonight." Dave's glaring at you from behind those shades, you know it. 

"I DIDN'T LIE ABOUT ANYTHING. I ONLY PRETENDED THAT I COULD FUCKING STOMACH YOU." You give him a scowl.

Dave huffs air out from his lungs and looks away from you, "were you pretending to like John's stories too?"

"I LIKE THEM. I WOULD HAVE CHECKED MY PHONE IF I DIDN'T." You give him a smug look. "AND I BET I ACTUALLY KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM THEN YOU DO, YOU PROBABLY ONLY EVER TALK ABOUT YOUR SHIT VIDEOS AND HOW BIG YOUR CLOUT IS? RIGHT?"

"I have more of a life than just work." Dave smirks at you. You know he has no fucking life, if he did than why would he need his bro to hook him up on dates?

You don't even need to press him on that, you have something up your sleeve. 

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE JOHN IS FROM?" You smugly ask him.

"Does it matter, we only just started dating... do you even know John's hobbies?" Dave asks in that self-aggrandising tone of his. 

You resist the urge to say _FUCKING ME IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THEM SOON ENOUGH. _Instead you swallow your pride and say, "MAYBE WE BOTH HAVE A FEW THINGS LEFT TO LEARN ABOUT JOHN."

"Oh... don't do this." Strider tosses up his hands and groans out a soft sigh as he tosses up his head and then looks back down at you. "Don't you act like you're the bigger man here."

"WHY?" I AM THE BIGGER MAN HERE. DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL SMALL?" You try to hold down your urge to just deck the fucker.

"No. It just pissed me off cause I know it's bullshit!" Dave points at you. "I know what the fuck you're trying to do here."

"WHAT? I'M JUST TRYING TO FUCKING PROVE TO JOHN I'M SERIOUS ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP. I'M FUCKING WILLING TO DO WHATEVER HE WANTS AND ME SITTING HERE TALKING TO YOU IS PROOF OF THAT."

"Oh quit fucking deluding yourself or lying or whatever the fuck you're attempting to do right now, I'm not buying it." Dave looks like he's fumming with you. He's probably holding himself back from decking you too. Let the fucker try to nail you in the jaw. You'll punch his lights out. If he wants to actually fucking throw fists over John you can take whatever he wants to dish out. 

Dave points at you, "I **know **that you're just fucking with me here and-"

"WAIT WHAT?! YOU THINK I'M JUST DOING ALL OF THIS TO FUCK WITH YOU OR SOMETHING? WHEN I LITERALLY MET HIM FIRST." You start hunching over the table to get closer to him. "GET OVER IT STRIDER, THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU-"

"Dude! Can you like fucking back off!" Dave gestures for you to move away. "I fucking get this isn't about me! I'm just saying I know that you're fucking around with me right now and fucking lying about what you really want out of John! Listen! He doesn't need some old fucker clambering over him and just trying to score a piece. He needs something real."

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE YOU'RE THE GUY JUST TRYING TO GET A FUCKING PIECE."

"I'm literally willing to not just be his boyfriend, but his **friend** friend. What do you talk to him about?! How fucking rich you are and how busy with work you are!? Is that literally it!? Can you honestly tell me you do more than just bitch at him about how rough your work life is!? Like you did to me!? Like you did**_ just now!?"_**

"THE TWO OF US TALK ABOUT OUR LIVES AND WORK FINE! SURE! YOU GOT ME THERE, STRIDER! BUT WE HAVE A REAL CONNECTION, ROMANTICALLY. WE DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT HOW WHATEVER SHIT VIDEO YOU JUST MADE IS _SO STUPID THAT IT'S FUNNY _OR WHATEVER THE FUCK JOHN TELLS YOU ABOUT YOUR-"

"I talk to John like he's my friend! I met his roommate! We actually like hang out together, so I actually try to get to know him and that-"

"YEAH. I BET TAKING JOHN TO WAWA IS A REAL ATTEMPT AT GETTING TO KNOW HIM TOO AND NOT JUST YOU BEING TO LAZY TOO OFFER HIM UP A REAL DATE."

"He said he's never been and I took him and we fucking shared a-"

"OH! DO _**NOT** _TELL ME THAT SHARING THAT MOMENT WAS LIKE SHARING HIS FIRST OF SOMETHING."

"I was not gonna say that, don't put fucking words in my mouth!"

"THEN WHAT? WHAT WERE YOU GONNA SAY?"

"Fuckin- can we please just fucking talk like men!?"

"OH WE ARE, IF WE WEREN'T YOU'D BE FUCKING BLOODIED ON THE FLOOR BY NOW."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I SEE YOUR GAME. YOU'RE FUCKING PROJECTING YOUR INTENTIONS WITH JOHN ON TO ME, CLAIMING I'M SOME OLDER FUCKER ONLY TRYING TO SCORE A PIECE. I'M PLANNING ON FUCKING MARRYING, JOHN. WHAT DO YOU-"

"Oh! I fucking see how it is!" Dave looks like he's a second away from murdering you. "You fucking go around looking for men a decade younger than you like you're looking for a fucking trophy wife to take home and wait on you to come hom-"

"WHA-"

"Don't even act like that's not true." Dave accuses you of a straight up fabrication. "I know it's true, you wouldn't fucking talk with my bro about scoring a date with me if you weren't looking for shit like that. I know what he tried to sign me up for and I'm not fucking falling prey to that shit and I'll be damned if John fuckin' stumbles into that trap."

"I SAID I WANT TO FUCKING MARRY HIM BECAUSE I'M SERIOUS ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP. I'M NOT FUCKING LOOKING FOR SOME ASS TO KEEP ON THE SIDE LIKE YOU, STRI-"

"The fuck did you just say to me?!" Dave smacks his hand onto the table. "I keep telling you John is my friend and my lover and-"

"OH FUCK ME- HE'S YOUR LOVER?! FUCKING LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" You nearly smack Strider with how you waved your hand around the table. "HE'S TOO FUCKING GOOD FOR YOU TO THROW THAT TITLE AROUND."

"I meant my boyfriend- and what the fuck is that sup-"

"DON'T FUCKING CALL HIM YOUR LOVER IN FRONT OF ME." You feel honestly repulsed by that. 

Dave grunts out, **"ohhhhaha- I am so calling him that in front of _everyone_ now!"**

"IT WOULD BE A FUCKIN' LIE." You point at Dave. "AND IT'S FUCKING DISGUSTING HOW YOU'D IMPLY THAT THE TWO OF YOU ARE ALREADY FUC-"

"Listen To The Fucking Words That Are Coming Out Of My Mouth! We. Are. Friends. And-"

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! I JUST KNOW THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO-"

"If you are _implying _that I'm only dating John because he's hot and I'm trying to _score a piece_ I've got news for you! I'm too fucking nervous to even kiss him on the lips- fucking happy!?"

"NOW THAT'S JUST FUCKING SAD."

"You know what? Shut the fuck up and suck my fat one!" Dave gestures at his dick under the table with both his hands, "I am so fucking tired of this. I'm just trying to be fucking honest with you and what are you doing?! Trying to bag a twenty-something-year-old to cook and clean house for you?!"

"THAT IS NOT WHY I WANT TO MARRY HIM!" You point at him. "AND LOOK AT YOU! DO YOU EVEN SEE YOURSELF MARRYING JOHN AND NOT JUST-"

"YES!" Dave yells back. "I'd marry, John! I'd do fucking anything he'd want!"

"I THOUGHT YOU TWO WERE MORE LIKE _FRIENDS._ WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT SHIT-"

"THE FUCK!?" Dave slams his hand on the table. "You aren't fucking listening to me, you're only hearing what you wanna hear."

"WHAT I'M HEARING IS WHAT YOU'RE FUCKING REALLY SAYING BETWEEN THE LINES, STRIDER. YOU'RE ONLY THINKING ABOUT HOW FUCKING TIGHT HIS SHIRT IS AND-"

"Stop fucking projecting yourself onto me!"

"I'M ONLY SAYING WHAT I'M SEEING! I'M SEEING YOU EYE JOHN LIKE CANDY AND-"

"Dude! Are you fucked up over the fact I called John 'Babe?'"

"I'M FUCKING PISSED YOU'D DEMEAN HIM WITH THAT TI-"

"DEMEAN!?" Dave screams back. "And you're over here talking about how tight his shirt is!?"

"STRIDER. YOU FUCKING-** YOU NEED TO-"**

"No! You need to **listen** to **me.**" Strider is seriously trying to fucking fight you now. "You better fucking back off! If you're thinking of fucking using John and hurting him in that way- I'm personally gonna put you in your fucking place and break your spine. You fuckin' ugly-ass perver-"

"I'M NOT TRYING TO USE EGBERT FOR SEX. I'M NOT YOU-" Suddenly, you feel something pinching the top of your ear and dragging you up.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Dave is being pulled up too. You see it's John's hand commiting the act. John's pulling you both up to your feet.

"JOHN!" You cry out for him to stop.

When John has you both on your feet, he huffs and then puts his hands on his hips.

"Neither of you are doing that! Okay! I'm not so dumb I'd fall for that!" John is yelling at you both. He seems like he's fuming with rage. "My roommate used to cycle through _nice guys _only after ass every other week! I picked up on the things they say and how they act! I can tell both of you really do care about me! So stop fighting! And while we're on the topic!" 

John gives you both a mean look with his adorable tough guy face, "I don't want you two fighting over who gets to have me! Or fighting about _me_ in anyway!"

"Dave!" John looks at Dave and shouts at him, "_IF _Karkat is trying to use me or hurt me or whatever I can handle it on my own! It's sweet that you wanna defend me! But unwarranted threats and name calling is out of the question! Don't say stuff like that!"

You almost smirk at him, then John directs his anger at you, "KARSEN! Dave isn't trying to use me for sex! And I like that he calls me babe! It's just a cute little nickname! And If I thought it was demeaning I would have said something! That is **not **something you can decide for me!"

"HO-HOW MUCH OF THAT DID YOU HEAR?"

"The tail end of it!" John huffs out a tiny "Hmph!" Then he starts talking to the two of you again. "If you two fight like this on another one of our-"

"John." Dave cuts him off, "I am so not dealing with this guy again, I'm sorry! You can date him, fine! But I am not putting up with one of my bro's associates."

"OH. STRIDER. I THINK YOUR BROTHER IS A PIECE OF WORK TOO. BELIEVE ME." You stare at him and then back at John, "BUT HE'S RIGHT -FOR ONCE- I DON'T WANT THAT EI-"

"Get over it!" John yells at the two of you. "I am not! -And I'm telling you! **not!-** Gonna subject you two to feeling like you're _the other guy. _And I'm not going to force you to think you're fighting someone you _hate_ for me! You two are gonna talk to each other and try to get along or you **both **can forget about dating me!"

The words, _'ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!'_ blast in your mind.

"JO-"

"John." Dave even fucking talked over you. "Seriously!?"

"Yes! Seriously!" John stares at Dave and then looks back at you. "-and what were **you **about to say, sweetheart?!"

Even when he's enraged he calls you names like that... you can't fuck this up. You fucking can't.

You sigh. "I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THAT IT WAS RIDICULOUS. BUT..." 

You take another deep breath and breathe it out. "I SHOULD AT LEAST ATTEMPT TO SEE THINGS FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE. TWO GUYS YOU ONLY SPENT SO MUCH TIME WITH TO GET TO KNOW ARE FIGHTING EACH OTHER OVER YOU IN A FUCKING PUBLIC PLACE." You step back and get back to your set. "MAYBE... MAYBE THE THREE OF US SHOULD TALK ABOUT THIS... I DON'T WANT TO BE THE ONE FUCKING YOU OVER BY ASSUMING YOU'D DATE A GUY WHO'S-" You stop yourself from saying something... profane like _a complete fucking douchebag who smells like perfume from __claire's_. "SOMEONE WHO'S NOT GOOD FOR YOU."

You sigh. "IF YOU LIKE STRIDER, THEN I'LL HEAR YOU OUT ON WHY."

"All I'm asking is that you try." John walks back to the table and settles down into his seat.

He looks up at Dave and Dave lingers for a moment. He takes in a deep breath and shutters it out. He looks enraged with the entire scenario he found himself in. At least you have that in common.

. . .

John shouldn't have to place peacekeeper between the two of you, Dave must have felt that too. The both of you just shut up and listened to John talk to the two of you.

He told you that Dave is funny and takes you to places that the both of them enjoy. They are more like friends who are dating, while you and John are much more romantic than that. John appreciates all the ways you try to dazzle him and impress him. John calls you a gentlemen and directly states to Dave that you're a real try hard. John makes up for insulting you by finding a way to insult Dave too. John says that Dave is a bit clueless when it comes to romance. Dave's more prone to saying "dude" than "babe" and he finds their dates charming but wants to really date and not just play games at his place. "That's why I want the three of us to get to know each other. I think you two would really balance eachother out perfectly... and I know you two have your differences and don't see eye to eye but I'd love for you two to accept that you're both a big part of my life now."

John sighs as he confesses staring down at the table, "I can't picture doing anything different with the two of you... I'd love to date you both separately, but keeping you separate feels wrong to me and I want to learn more about you two while we are still all learning about each other."

"Karsen..." John's looking at you now as he addresses you directly, "I know we only started dating, but I feel like we've been together long enough to know we want this thing to last..."

John looks over at Dave and says, "I know that you see Karsen and think he might be trying to use romance and his money to buy me over... trust me... Jade thought of Karsen as my _sugar daddy _till I set her straight. I know that Karsen is a darling sweetheart... he just thinks of himself in a... low way... much like you, darling..." 

Dave seems to have settled down after hearing that.

John sighs as he tells you both, "I think you both are just like me... we're always so hard on ourselves, burying ourselves in our work -or in my case my studies- because it feels like we're good for nothing else..."

John tells Dave, "Karsen doesn't have time for his hobbies or his interests cause he doesn't give himself the time... the only things he can make time for is romance fiction cause that's what's on his mind..."

John laughs at Dave as he says, "and you, cutie, you love all sorts of strange little things, but you can never settle on liking any one thing... you always just find something that peaks your interest, make a short video and toss it aside for the next _it _thing."

John chuckles. "Neither of you have any time for _yourselves _cause you don't make time. You only make time for me."

John sighs and looks back at you. "I don't want to stress you out. I don't want you to put off catching up on work because you have to make the perfect date to impress me. I think I had a better time taking a tour of the floor you work than I did when we were eating ice cream in the park... I love the effort you put into things, but I feel guilty making you stress out over me."

John looks up, his eyes are shut as he says, "I just want to be honest... I can't see myself letting either of you go... I think you both need something to calm you down and keep you both grounded."

John shrugs a little, with his eyes still closed as he says, "and if either of you two left me, I'd be so stressed to find out how you're doing and if you're okay... I'd still want to be your friend. Regardless of what happens."

John rolls his head down to look at you, "I lose sleep over you, you know?"

John looks over at Dave, "and I notice you actually look happy in the videos you've been putting out... since you've meet me."

"If I left either of your lives... I'd be unhappy." John admits. "I just wanted to let you know the score, guys."

You watch John as he sets his hands onto the table and sits properly in his seat. He offers you both something simple, "I'm not saying that you two have to even be friends... I just... I don't want you two to _hate _each other... I really care about you both... a lot... I think if you hated each other..."

John stops. You know what he's saying. He's saying it would be too much for his heart to bear. And you have to protect it... it's fragile. 

You place your hand on John's. He looks up at you with a slight frown. You tell him as soft as you can with the voice your fucked up habit gave you, "I THINK THAT WE CAN AT LEAST TRY."


	12. Trying

You're more than happy with the way your conversation just went. 

Dave agreed to attempt to make peace with Karsen and Karkat agreed to try and see what it is that you see in Dave.

You're sure it's going to take them a while to patch things up and get over their differences... and the fact they feel like they are fighting over your heart is going to complicate things, but you can bear with it!

You're gonna make sure that the two of them talk every now and again, maybe join each other for a group date with you. You're hoping they can make peace with the fact that... they are _both_ the guy for you.

You know it. You felt it in your heart. Once you pictured life without Dave in it, it felt empty, almost void of joy. 

Once you pictured going on with out Karsen, life felt bleak, void of hope.

Dave is so funny.

Karsen is so romantic.

Dave can be so hard on himself for being a little awkward at times.

Karsen can be so hard on himself for not getting all his work done because he's too tired. 

They never let themselves rest. If Karkat got more sleep and ate better, he could probably get more done and stress less. If Dave could only just take a breather and realize that people flock to him as an _influencer _because they like his taste and they love what he has to say, maybe then Dave could see himself in a better light.

Dave told you he never really got out before he started making videos, he told you that he feels like a stranger in his own home. 

Karkat gives you this look sometimes, like you're the only thing bringing him joy in his life. Everything else seems like an endless stretch of road. His money doesn't make him happy because he can't even spend it on anything worth the time, only nice clothes and useless watches. Karsen has to work hard for what he has. Something about the way he holds himself... it makes you feel like his gouchy cause he had to bust his ass to get to the top and he still works hard out of fear of losing everything he worked for. 

Karkat seems unhappy with everything in his life. Dave seems unhappy with with himself.

You hope you can teach them how to appreciate what they have, how to focus less on work and more on how wonderful they both are as people. Karkat is a hard worker, and so is Dave. Karsen probably sees Dave as a slouch and Dave probably sees Karkat as a grump. 

You sigh.

You're walking out with Karsen at your side and Dave on the other. You pull Karkat into a hug and kiss his cheek as a goodbye. You wave him off as he enters his ride. You hope you didn't just break his heart by telling him that he has to bear with something he hates, but if you can change his mind then you think you can find a way for all three of you to be truly happy.

Dave walks with you over to his car. He's silent for the most part. Listening to his radio and humming along.

You resign yourself to being quiet as well. You only speak up to remind him which way to go to drive to your place as you check your phone for directions. Dave starts talking after you tell him your map says to turn right,

"you know something... Karsen thinks the same thing about you that I do, I think."

You look up at Dave as he rolls up to the side walk near your apartment.

Dave faces ahead as he says, "you have enough room in your heart for the world... not just the two of us."

. . .

You quit your job. You told them you couldn't even put in your two-weeks because you need to start training today after you grab your stuff from your desk. The woman overseeing your training wasn't surprised you didn't last. She seems to think the work environment was too hard and fast pace for you. Not like working for an independent small company is going to be a cake walk either though, you get that you're new but jeez, she doesn't have to view you quitting as a defeat, you certainly don't.

You sigh as you carry your box full of things in your arms out into the hall. You stop walking to try to steady your things, when all of a sudden you hear a pair of heels clicking against the tile floor... along with a probing cane.

You see the president walking through the hall. You say hello to her, "hello, ma'am."

"Ah. Egbert is it?" President Pyrope addresses you. 

"Yes, ma'am." You nod.

"I could use your favor with something." She tells you as she settles her cane in her hand, "something small?"

"Ma'am?" You look up at the president. She lingers for a moment before she lets out a sigh,

"See... the CEO actually listens to what you have to say." Ms. Pyrope tells you, "he seems to think fondly of you, and I'd like for you to encourage him to listen more to his peers, and perhaps what clear-cut data research can tell him. I think you already know that he's a tough nut to crack, he doesn't change his mind... on anything... unless he has the right sort of push."

You smile softly down at the ground. The president speaks up again,

"I understand that you are leaving the company, I was hoping that we could have worked more closely with you. I find your view to be interesting, not only that... but your manner of... _communicating_ is one we rarely see here... you're quite kind and empathetic. A quality that I rarely see anyone really, truly possess. I only see people using those traits to mask some other unfavorable qualities. I think the only one you have is that you talk too much."

You laugh at that. 

"Losing you is going to be like losing a valuable asset. I hope that you find the time to speak with Vantas at least, I would have liked to see what you could have offered us as an employee... but I hope that you can offer him something as a friend. You see... the two of us had started this practice together. He'd gather up investors and I would lead our increasingly large team to work on projects. Vantas always had an idea or two he had to make us follow. He'd never let up on what he wanted and he always seemed to think emotional, heart-tugging videos were just the _crap that got products moving..." _

You know that your darling would say that. Your sweetheart can never let anyone know he really just has a soft spot for romance... well... til now. Vantas is probably going to confess that he's just imposing his own personal bias on everyone here. 

Ms. Pyrope gives you a small little half-smile as she says with a much happier tone, "Vantas used to be quite the charismatic charmer, I used to be the hard-nose leader... Times changed us I'm afraid, I fear that we might have switched roles. It's hard to believe how much we've managed to get done in ten years... doesn't help that the investors have swallowed our souls whole though. Vantas has little in his life but the grind. I still enjoy my time here, but I think that the air here is chipping away at Karkat's soul... I hope that you may encourage him to at least change a bit of his life. I'm speaking now more as a friend then your former employer."

"I understand that, ma'am." You tell her softly, "and I think that's kind of you. To look out for him. I'm happy that he has someone at his job that is making things easier on him."

"I'm afraid he sees my kindness and an intrusion." She softly sighs out of her nose, "when I prod at him to make changes, he views it as a slap in the face. You, however, young man... may speak to him in a way I can not."

She's right about that. 

Karsen needs a push in the right direction.

You thank her for her kind words. 

You continue on with your day. 

You're looking forward to going to your new job and getting that part of your day out of the way.

You've got some plans for after. 


End file.
